V olvo CE is celebrating its 15th year in India and expects positive market growth in the near future. Volvo believes the cycle would be better next year or in the years to come. Amidst the overwhelming response at EXCON, A. M. Muralidharan takes out some time and opens up about the past, present and future of Volvo CE.

What were your major achievements in 2013?

Achievement wise, we successfully rolled out the D-Series excavators which we launched in 2012. I think the customers started liking the machine, and we increased our volume. Also, getting our share of 60 per cent in this market size of 48-55 tonnes is one of the major achievements.

What is your roadmap for 2014?

We are expecting the market to be back, and for which we have been waiting. Market is down by 25 per cent, and we are hopeful that it’s going to come back by early next year. We are celebrating the 15th year of Volvo CE in India and waiting for good market growth. The year 2014 won’t be phenomenal compared to 2013, but it will definitely be a positive change going towards peak of the cycle. I believe that we are at the lower most end of the cycle and in Volvo the cycle would be only better next year and in the years to come.

Are there any kinds of depreciation in market size?

Percentage wise, the excavator market is 25 per cent down than last year and we believe it will double within next 4 years. The market for compaction loaders is flat compared to last year as an industry. In the road building equipment segment, we are in top three in the country, and in excavator we are among the top five.

Did you revise your strategy in the beginning of 2013, keeping the slowdown in mind?

We have a strategy for long term, short term and mid-term. We will have to react to the market; we will have to react to the condition we see here. While we have mid-term, long-term and short-term strategies in place, we always roll out our strategy depending on the market condition.

In the 15th year of Volvo CE in India, what vision you have for the Indian market?

The vision is that we want this market to grow larger than any other developed market. Here, every player will have an opportunity to grow, which we have been waiting for the past 15 years. We want the market to grow and stabilize at a level where everybody has an opportunity. From our side, our business strategy is driving the technology, giving more productive, more efficient as well as fuel-efficient machines. We are also ensuring that our cost of operation is always under control for our customers.

Over the years, we have been very successful in providing total solutions to our customers — that’s our focus. We have been remanufacturing, we have customer support agreement, and we have a care centre which is our call centre, so we have complete solution for our customers who believe in our efficient, fuel-efficient products.