This will happen as many Power tools companies have already set up their plants in India. We will see an increase in demand once the situation stabilizes and technology will play a huge role in future says Dattatraya Joshi, Executive Director & Secretary, Hikoki Power Tools India Pvt Ltd.

Could you brief us about the power tools market in India?
Power tools are used in general applications such as construction, engineering, automobile and wood industry. Its main functions are grinding, cutting, polishing, breaking and drilling. Power tools market in India stands at `4,000 crore and 50 per cent of it is predominantly dominated by multinational companies (MNC) and branded products and the rest is occupied by unbranded Chinese products.

What has been the impact of Covid-19 on the power tools market?
The month of April was a total shutdown due to lockdown restrictions and nothing much was achieved by power tools players. Power tools industry is a proxy of the general industry. Our products are used everywhere and as a result of this, whatever happens to other industries; it has an impact on the power tools industry as well.

But things are improving steadily and the power tools business is increasing in India. The Q1 saw 25 per cent business, Q2 had 80 per cent business and by Q3, there will be some normalcy and Q4 will see some growth.

The main problem we faced during Covid-19 was that of supply chain management. And it impacted our end to end operations. We also faced problems with our retail dealers, customers and despite all of this, we didn’t stop our operations. To combat these challenges, we used technology to a great extent to reach out to our stakeholders. We have resumed about 80 per cent of our business and quite bullish about the future.

The construction sector has also gathered momentum as most of the labourers have also returned and it will help us with our business. After unlocking, the auto sector has also picked up and passenger vehicles, two-wheelers are operating at more than 100 per cent, tractor business is also up by 50 per cent. The only exception has been the Commercial Vehicle (CV) sector, which is a little bit sluggish.

The government should spend more money on the infrastructure sector. There is also a lack of investment by private players as they have excess capacity and don’t want to invest currently. Power tools industry is also struggling with cheap Chinese imports and the MSME sector is also not in a sound position.

What will be the way forward for the power tools industry?
Power tools industry will see a rise in local production as many MNCs have already set up their plants in India. We will see an increase in demand once the situation stabilizes and technology will play a huge role in future. In power tools, we will see a shift from corded tools to cordless tools (battery-powered) and it will help the consumer.