Our service team taking all necessary safety precautions has been supporting the mines throughout the lockdown says Samaresh Mitra, National Head OE, KMC India.

New tenders are opening in the coal mining sector, how is this poised to impact the mining sector?
Ministry of Coal has recently decided to offer blocks for commercial mining. They have identified 41 coal blocks which are to be auctioned in the coming months. Coal mined from these blocks are expected to hit peak production of 225 million tonne and will account for 15 per cent of India’s total coal output in 2025-26 enabling us to be self-sufficient on energy needs and relying less on imports. Even Coal India has identified certain coal blocks which they plan to develop through MDO models. Two such MDO tenders are already under bidding stages. The coal mining sector in days to come would be more competitive and all miners would have to deploy the latest technology to get the lowest cost per tonne.

The switchover to Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission norms, has increased the product prices by 15-20 per cent, how has it impacted the sale of your mining portfolio products?
Our Hybrid Shovels and Wheel Loaders currently offer a range of selections from Tier II and Tier IV engines. These are capable of meeting the BS VI emission norms. However due to the increase of product prices there have been some concerns to the buyers; however, when TCO (Total Cost of Operation) is considered there are savings over fuel/lube consumptions which does give a value to the owners.

How are you managing the sales and service in the post lockdown period? By when do you feel businesses will be back to pre Covid period?
The Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), 1981 states any establishment or undertaking dealing with the production, supply or distribution of coal, power, steel or fertilizers as an essential service. Hence, we being mining equipment and service providers are working alongside mine operators to keep the “Lights On”. Our service team taking all necessary safety precautions has been supporting the mines throughout the lockdown. Similarly, on the sales front we are interacting regularly with our customer base and it is encouraging to see PSU’s like CIL & NTPC deploying online video conferences for conducting pre-bid and pre-nit meetings with vendors.

Amidst the Covid period the GoI has initiated commercial mining and Coal India the biggest coal miner in the country has floated tenders worth Rs 3,000 crore and also announced that the capex for next year would be Rs 10,000 crore. Hence the business is already showing signs of recovery and soon it is expected to reach earlier levels.

Given the cash crunch which has come into play, what are the equipment finance options you have available for your customers?
Komatsu offers its customers worldwide equipment financing solutions. Our Global Mining Equipment Finance (GMEF) team includes banking and leasing professionals with proven global experience in structured equipment lending and leasing, project financing, commodity backed financing, and ECA-backed financing.

We can assist in financing the purchase or lease of new or used surface and underground equipment, rebuilds of existing equipment, upgrades to existing equipment or major service work.

Looking at the recent developments in bilateral relationship with China, how do you think it will impact the mining sector in India?
There have been few Chinese companies supplying mining equipment into India lately but there are alternative sources as well and we don’t see the mining sector getting impacted much if restrictions are imposed. However, some global manufactures have established their manufacturing plants in China and source certain components out of China. This would be a big hit. But the positives of this would be that India in coming days would see more foreign investments to establish manufacturing bases as an alternative to China.