We are committed to India and will continue to make investments to expand our capacity as infrastructure and material handling space grows.

  With the aim of revolutionising the material handling industry in India, JCB India has recently unveiled three machines namely Telehandlers, Skid Steer Loaders and Super Loaders in New Delhi. On the sidelines of the event, JCB India’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Vipin Sondhi speaks to Subhajit Roy and talks about why JCB is betting big on material handling equipment business.

JCB is one of the pioneers in earthmoving and construction equipment industry in India. What does the industry expects from you now?
Our tag line ‘Expect More’ is motivating us to innovate and present new product solutions to our customers. On this note, across product categories, we have tried to upgrade existing products at every stage so that they are more beneficial to the customers. We have ensured that service and dealer network and availability of parts match that reach as we go deeper into India. Now we are launching a whole new segment of material handling products which will transform the material handling practices in India. Our range of revolutionary product solutions is productive, safer and reliable.

Why JCB is betting big on material handling?
At this point of time material handling segment offers immense potential in India. Even from a technology standpoint, various forms of practices are used at present. The growing popularity of vertical stacking, increased thrust on palletization coupled with rising demand for safe and reliable equipment is all leading to the growing popularity of these machines in the Indian market. I am sure the sectors we are looking at – whether its agro-based logistics, paper, ceramic or others – use of these equipment will provide great productivity and efficient site management.

With your focus on transforming business in India as well as transforming India by delivering advanced solutions, what sort of capital expenditure plans you have?
We invested Rs 500 crore only recently during the downturn in two new plants in Jaipur.  We will now utilise that capacity before doing further investment. However, we are committed to India and will continue to make investments to expand our capacity as infrastructure and material handling space grows.

With your Jaipur plant getting operational, what is the capacity been used?
Our Jaipur facility presently manufactures Fabrications for the Group. Now as the industry grows, we will further ramp up our Jaipur facility.

How JCB India is committed to the JCB Group?
India is JCB’s single largest market by volumes. We are not only the manufacturing hub of the Group; we have also become the design hub with our world-class design centre in Pune. Products are designed and manufactured on the company philosophy of “One Global Quality” which means products manufactured in India can be used in any part of the world. We export to 65 countries from our manufacturing facilities in India.

How much do you contribute to the Group’s turnover?
Approximately 20 per cent of our revenues are exported to other parts of the world. It is difficult to put a percentage or number as there are taxes, duties, consolidations, foreign exchange rates etc. 

What kind of client-centric approach you have to expand your dealer network?
Currently we have more than 60 dealers and 650 outlets across India. We always strive to be as close to our customer as possible which is why we have established the largest dealer network in the industry.  But that does not stop there!

As we keep expanding our product range, we will certainly add more outlets to go deeper into India.