“We continue to implement the best solutions for delivering products faster and at a lower price to the customer,” Gautam Suri Founder Director, Interarch Buildings Products Pvt. Ltd.

Pre-engineered buildings market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7 percent by 2025. Your views. 

The market is definitely growing even in this situation. We see good growth numbers in many sectors and if the economy keeps on a decent growth trajectory, I believe the number in the coming year will be better than this. 

What are the impacts of digitalisation on the operations of infrastructure and construction segments? 

There is no digitisation in infrastructure and construction as such. We are already fairly well ‘digitised’. We work with the latest software and ERP solutions to deliver and execute projects efficiently, and on-time. 

So how, for your particular segment that how do you see its impact in the coming years?

Opportunities are immense for us. A lot of things are happening and progressing in the logistics, infrastructure, FMCG, infra in terms of rail, road and airports. Impact of the same can be seen in almost every space. Almost every project is shifting towards pre-engineered steel for ease in execution, delivery, better quality, minimum labour and people at the site. A company like ours, which specialises in pre engineered construction is gaining from this. There’s a lot happening, and I foresee good business prospects if the growth continues. 

There are challenges in terms of steel prices which are fluctuating a lot. Other commodities are also impacted. To be more specific, the trends happening in China and in the rest of the world may impact India too. If there is general stability in energy and commodity markets, this market will grow because our industry is reliant on a very important commodity, steel. 

What are the challenges towards the investment and regulation of PEB? 

No, there are no particular challenges for our sector per say. Investments are important in the overall infrastructure, MSME, pharma, manufacturing, and all other sectors. The issue is not for our sectors, but investments in our downstream sectors. There are no specific regulations which are hampering us. 

What are the key significant factors in redefining the business prospects for infrastructure PEB? 

Infrastructure is heavily dependent on government spending; and private participation in infrastructure happens on some very high visibility projects or very profitable projects. A lot of infrastructure projects may not be big cash cows. Investment is essential and that has to happen from the government because it’s vital to make the economy grow. There can be no economic growth without good infrastructure. India has suffered from medium growth in previous years, because our infrastructure has traditionally been very poor. And poor infrastructure leads to a high cost of doing business. So, investment in infrastructure is a key factor. And as I said, the government is pushing for an increase in investments and a lot has been happening in the last few years. This heralds good prospects for our business.

When we talk about transparency and technology plays a key role in developing PEB system infrastructure. We’ve already a very technology driven sector, because pre-engineered construction is 100 percent technology driven. Because we specialise in off-site manufacture, we convert every building into small parts like a Meccano set which delivered to site to be assembled. It works with technology, engineering expertise and requires minimum of skilled manpower at the site. 

What kind of latest technologies have you been implementing or planning to implement in your project? 

For us, technology is engineering expertise and manufacturing. There is no rocket science technology, but we keep improving and implementing the best solutions for delivering products faster and at a lower cost to the customer. 

Our entire industry and our business segment is very technology driven, and it is more than technology, it is service driven. We deliver engineering, manufacturing, delivery and erection services to the customer as a onestop shop. 

How do you assess the growth prospects for the next five years? 

I would say a minimum of 10 percent to 20 percent growth every year should be there in our industry. The market is growing, infrastructure spend is increasing, the overall pie is expanding. So therefore businesses are growing. Industry needs good and sound economic policies from the government, sound taxation, good spend in infrastructure, and more and more opening up to ease of doing business.