Limited funding, slow policy reforms and a weak currency are factors that will continue to limit the growth potential during the early part of the forecast period.

-Jashan Bhoomkar, Director, Soujanya Color Pvt Ltd

  Jashan Bhoomkar, Director, Soujanya Color Pvt Ltd share his take on how this year will be for the industry, his projections for Soujanya and the strategies that will be undertaken to achieve the set targets.

Indian construction industry will have an expansion
Sharing his thoughts on how the year will be for the Indian construction industry, Jashan Bhoomkar, says, “India’s construction industry will continue to expand over the forecast period (2016–2020), with investments in residential, infrastructure and energy projects continuing to drive growth. Various government flagship programs, including 100 Smart Cities Mission, Housing for All, Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation (AMRUT), Make in India and Power for All – will be the growth drivers. The industry’s output value in real terms is expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.65 per cent over the forecast period; up from 2.95 per cent during the review period (2011–2015).”

He further stated, “There are certain challenges associated with India’s construction industry outlook. Limited funding, slow policy reforms and a weak currency are factors that will continue to limit the growth potential during the early part of the forecast period. Due to industrialisation, urbanization, a rise in disposable income and population growth the demand for construction services is set to rise. The government efforts to improve the country’s residential and transport infrastructure will also support growth.”

Demonetisation to cause a slight drop
Projecting the status of the industry in the coming year, Bhoomkar says, “Industry is likely to grow by 15-17 per cent. However, with recent demonetisation there would be slight drop in business potential. We feel that, this would be temporary effect on the market. Eventually construction industry has a good potential to grow.”

He further says, “As a colour manufacturing company, we understand importance of colour and its strong relationship not only with aesthetics but also with performance, particularly for the construction domain. Broadly, we cater to three key aspects of the construction domain – decoration, protection and flooring.”

Decent technology at affordable price
When asked about the strategies that can be used to achieve the set targets, Bhoomkar says, “The market is demanding and increasing. Government policies are looking to be in favour of growing market challenges by investing more and more money into infrastructure development. Meeting government demands itself would be a challenge in front of Indian companies. A demand for a decent technology at affordable price for lower segment of the market is going grow giving opportunity to companies like us to grow, penetrate and be a part of nation building.”

Bhoomkar further comments, “Innovation is a key to meet the growing performance demands on any product. At the same time, we are focusing on having sustainable innovation, using maximum ‘green’ resources to have minimum impact on environment. If the products are ‘green’ they will be welcomed by the society at a large. World is looking at India and also Government is projecting India as a manufacturing hub. Companies need to invest lot of money in building manufacturing capabilities to produce quality products at a faster rate.”

He concludes saying, “At the last, skilled manpower is required to develop products as per changing demands, producing quality products and for supply chain and end application. Lot of training programs are organized in improving skills of the human resource.”