It is a wide ranging tool which is already impacting every aspect of life and is going to play a key role in the PEB industry across design, manufacturing, supply and construction says D Raju – Managing Director, Kirby Building Systems & Structures India Pvt Ltd.

How do you see Atmanirbhar Bharat to impact your sector?
Atmanirbhar Bharat as announced by the government supported by the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign to make India a self-reliant country in the long run is a positive move. It will be beneficial for the Pre Engineered Steel Buildings (PEB) sector as the PEB industry operates mostly on the capex of all other industry segments related to manufacturing. This is one of the new strategic vision for policymakers with a concrete roadmap to be laid out to attract international companies to set up their facilities in India besides our own Indian grown firms. This will enable us to play a major role in the global economy by integrating ourselves in the global value chain with the implementation of proper structural reforms.

Kirby views this as a positive move as steel is one of the best construction materials. it is going to see an increase in the acceptability as one of the key building material apart from the other existing building materials. As it has got many distinct properties and has an edge when compared to other building materials.

In terms of current market dynamics, what will be the new normal after 2020? This year paved the way for digitalization like never before, how has it impacted the PEB industry? What will be the role of AI and technology in the development of future PEB assisted infrastructure?
With new normal going to be the way forward, there are likely to many changes in the way we eat, live, work, travel, interact etc. both within the company and outside with our families, friends, colleagues and customers. Regular interaction with all our customers whether small or big by showing empathy and transparency through digital mode, communication on the latest things both to the customers and employees. Remote working will take the centre stage wherever possible with interaction only through a digital platform, proper utilization of all the resources and workplace sanitization will become the main priority.

Kirby has also been very agile and fast in communicating with our customers and employees with the rapidly changing dynamics of the market and expectations of our existing and prospective customers. We are also evolving ways of strategizing and extracting value from the existing portfolio to spur innovation and provide more value to our customers in addition to moving to digital-first or digital-only customer journeys. Emerging technologies are being explored like Augmented reality (AR) to extend the brand and drive effective and engaging virtualized service with innovation at every area of the project lifecycle. AI is construction technology’s next frontier as it is a wide ranging tool which is already impacting every aspect of life and is going to play a key role in the PEB industry across design, manufacturing, supply and construction. Out of which some of these stages are already using AI-assisted platforms which are in very nascent stages.

What kind of infrastructure upgrade initiatives should the government focus on to ensure the construction sector remains in robust health?
The government must adopt a well informed policy approach based on a well-crafted strategic framework – the route to a $5 trillion economy or balanced growth or even self-reliant India is through competitiveness and innovativeness which includes balanced development across all regions and sectors. The government should aim to spend more on infrastructure-related developments to create employment and demand for the materials used in the infra thereby giving an uplift to already affected segments because of this pandemic and slowdown in the projects across all the construction sector.

PEBs are sustainable and eco-friendly buildings and have also caught the fancy of many real estate developers, builders, architects etc. as they are part of the green building movement which is rapidly growing in India. Government of India is also promoting newer and faster construction technologies such as prefab which are futuristic and sustainable. Thus, a huge opportunity awaits this industry, especially in segments such as high rises besides regular industrial infrastructure for manufacturing sector consisting of all industry segments and this growth story is poised to continue in the coming years.

In the long run, how will the pandemic impact the usage of PEB in the construction and infrastructure sector?
Coronavirus has impacted the global economy including India with almost every sector feeling the effects of the current pandemic. Pre Engineered Steel Buildings (PEB) sector is a part of both manufacturing and construction industry segments as it involves both fabrications of steel and installation at site. The fabrication and construction of industrial projects started after 45 days of lockdown as per the government guidelines and the sector continue to feel the impact as the economy is still not in full gear though most of the services have resumed their operations, there is still no major activity happening except in very few sectors. 

Kirby along with other PEB companies has also felt the impact of this coronavirus as the country was in complete lockdown mode without any major activity except some essential services. PEB sector as a whole is facing many challenges to both manufacturing and construction since manufacturing requires both staff and workmen as it involves coordination between various departments within the company and the customer. 

Construction at sites which are spread across India also requires labour for various types of activities wherein the availability is still a major challenge at some of the locations. However, we have been able to get back to normalcy across all our project locations very soon by resuming the construction by inviting the labour across all the job sites.

The market will remain more or less stagnant in the short term as we continue to record the highest number of cases daily. With the economy opening up completely and people and industries resuming their activities across all the segments but with a very cautious approach, there is likely to be no major change in the short term in the market with only some sectors likely to witness positive growth. However, in the long term which is over 2-3 years market will remain positive and help the Indian economy grow.