Technology plays an important role in making our machines do an efficient job across applications.

Sandeep Singh
Managing Director, Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Company

How do you assess India's infrastructure development and the role of construction equipment industry in this growth?

India is poised to be a USD 5 trillion economy and hence continues to invest in infrastructure sector. Post COVID-19, the economy continues to grow with strength and is projected to grow over 6-7% this fiscal year.
The government continues with its emphasis on infrastructure growth. In this direction, the Rs 111-lakh crore NIP was announced in 2020 to cover 24-25. To support this capex, investment through budgets has been growing at a 30% CAGR over the last three years, with a record Rs 10-lakh crore outlay for FY23-24.
Most of this investment has been in key infrastructure sectors such as roads, railways, water supply and sanitation, urban development, and rural housing.
Construction equipment plays a very important role in infrastructure activities, translating investments into infrastructure and propelling economic growth.
The construction equipment industry has played an important role in:
• Construction of national highways, which has consistently been above 28 km/day in the last three years and includes 27 green express highways
• Railways achieved a record 14 km/day of track laying.
• Contributing to the substantial progress in the Jal Jeevan Mission, with >65% of rural households having a potable drinking water connection.
• Coal production, which saw a major jump of 14% last year to 892 MT compared to 782 MT in 2021-22.
Similarly, increasing number of cities are building metro rail for better public transport, and record number of houses are being built each year through PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana).
All these activities have also been major demand drivers for construction equipment, and the industry has grown at a CAGR of 8% in the last three years in spite of COVID-19 impact during 2020-22.

What kind of demand are you experiencing this year for your range of equipment?

The domestic CE industry in 2022-23 has grown by 22% across all categories, nearly touching the 100,000-unit mark on a lower base.
The performance has been good across key segments of excavators, backhoe loaders, and wheel loaders in the earthmoving segment, which is also our range and forms the bulk of the CE industry. For instance, while domestic excavators and wheel loaders grew by over 15%, backhoe loaders jumped by more than 25% last year.
Last year saw unseasonal rainfall in Q1, leading to a low base. The rainfall has been below average in Q2 this year.
Also, the Central Government's capex has seen significant front loading. Most of the state governments are allotting sufficient funds for infrastructural development but some of the states are not able to allocate funds despite announcing it in their state budget.
Overall, there is a positive growth in Q1 in this financial year.

How is technology playing a major role in your products making them better in applications?

Technology plays an important role in making our machines do an efficient job across applications.
Our excavator range incorporates superior hydraulics by offering Hitachi's Optimum Hydraulic System (OHS), Fuel Pump Saving System (FPS), and Cross Sensing Summation System (CSSS), all geared towards agile, highly responsive, precise, smooth, and swift combined operations. This leads to unparalleled versatility: different versions to suit applications (quarry, shovel for tunnel, rock breaker fitment
ready, etc).
Our excavators also offer power optimization:
• Through different power modes (EP, HP) to suit applications.
• Auto idling (AI) and Auto deceleration for enhanced fuel efficiency without affecting productivity and power
Further, we have inbuilt telematics, ConSite, available in our Zaxis GI series excavators and InSite in our EX Super+ series excavators, backhoe loaders, and wheel loaders.
It is a next-generation service solution that utilises information and communication technology (ICT) to:
• deliver monthly reports to customers.
• provide both summary reports that give an overview of the operation of all the fleet owner's machines,
• provide detailed reports that show information about individual machines.
These reports as well as machine data help the customers in evaluating and optimising machine usage across different applications, leading to lower costs of operation, lower fuel consumption, and increased efficiencies in construction.
Further, Tata Hitachi has been a pioneer in introducing innovative technologies apart from those mentioned above to enable our customers to have the right machine for the right application.
We were the first to introduce various machines that were fully indigenously designed and manufactured.
The EX series of excavators were introduced in collaboration with Hitachi. However, over the years, it has been localised with continuous improvements as well as addition of several new features - with contribution from our local R&D - incorporating customer feedback - delivering high value in a diverse range of applications. Apart from the EX series, our fully indigenously designed and manufactured mini excavator TMX20 was introduced way back in 1998 in line with this requirement.
SHINRAI series backhoe loader: In the backhoe loader market, the major segment is Hiring - hence, fuel consumption is very important to our customers. Tata Hitachi's SHINRAI series boosts fuel efficiency with it EHS (Excellent Hydraulic System), wherein the flow is regulated sensing the pressure of the system.
SHINRAI PRIME offers low fuel consumption and also has high bucket forces, dump height and good reaches for customers looking at cost-effective performance and productivity.
TL340H PRIME wheel loader is fuel-efficient hydrostatic wheel loader, used across industries from construction, stone quarrying and mining.
Further, to meet the specific requirements of our customers, customized machines are also available with a wide range of attachments like Long Reach, Long Arm, Clamshell Bucket, Tunneling, Rock Breaker, Orange Peel etc. which make our equipment extremely versatile for using in a range of applications.

What are the latest developments in your product range? What are your expansion plans?

Our product line-up includes a wide range of excavators starting from 2 tonne mini excavators, covering construction excavators, mining excavators till 800 tonne (including excavator range and dump trucks offered by Hitachi Construction Machinery).
Similarly, offerings in excavators are complemented by our range of backhoe loaders, as explained before: SHINRAI PRIME and SHINRAI PRO, as well as the fuel-efficient hydrostatic TL340H PRIME wheel loader, again used across industries from construction to stone quarrying and mining.
Last year, we had introduced new products to offer a wider range and better value for our customers. This includes the EX200 Infra excavator in the construction range as well as the ZX670H in mining. Further, we have introduced our new wheel loader ZW225 in the fast-growing 5T wheel loader market—a machine specially designed for higher productivity and reliability.
It is made in India with proven Japanese technology, making it suitable to work globally. This machine comes with a host of features, and our customers are appreciating these features because they enhance their productivity and working efficiency, contributing to a faster ROI. We have more new introductions as well as upgrades lined up for the rest of the year, and a lot is expected to be launched during    EXCON 2023.

The existing line of products as well as new machines and upgrades will propel us to grow in sales this year to capitalise on the opportunities in India's infrastructure sector.

How are you gearing up for the future?

The next decade will not only see sustained growth opportunities for CE but also a gradual transition into new energy requirements.
We at Tata Hitachi are very excited about this opportunity and are geared up to meet the requirements as well as take on the challenges that come along.
Our strategy for meeting the above is multipronged: We strengthen the channel network to get as close to our customers as possible for quick access to sales support as well as timely service and improved uptime of equipment in the face of a growing machine population.
We will continue to invest in upgrading our products to be more productive and efficient. The new launches mentioned earlier are in that direction.
We have more such products in the pipeline, and they will be launched at the appropriate time. Given the customer's requirements for versatility, we have introduced a large variety of variants and customised machines and will continue to innovate. We already have two manufacturing plants at Dharwad in Karnataka and Kharagpur in West Bengal, where we have invested a lot in manufacturing capability and will continue to invest incrementally to take advantage of the upcoming opportunities. Regarding the sustainability of using alternate fuels and advance technology in our machines, we displayed the CNG-powered prototype backhoe loader SHINRAI at the last EXCON held on May 22.
There are various aspects being considered to introduce sustainable equipment, including the technologies that will be more suitable for different product classes in terms of usability, mobility, infrastructure requirements, cost impact, renewable energy, etc. Based on these considerations, we have identified various projects to be taken up for feasibility study. Hitachi Construction Machinery, Japan, our parent company, has electric drive technology in their mini, midi excavator products and in large mining machinery. Therefore, we will be ready with appropriate new technology products in time to meet any requirement.

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