Though the road construction equipment market will remain very strong, we expect the mining industry more particularly the coal and iron ore mining to pick up.

Dimitrov Krishnan,
Vice President and Head, Volvo CE India

Maintaining the strong focus on road building sector, Volvo CE India has unveiled advanced compactors and paver at the recently concluded Bauma Conexpo India 2016. On the sidelines of the event, the company’s Vice President and Head Dimitrov Krishnan speaks to B2B Purchase. Interview excerpts:

How was the year gone by?
We have done exceedingly well and we are quite satisfied with our business development in 2016. Being a premium brand the kind of product offering that we have very much based on the concept of total cost per tonne. We have been able to hold our own in the market which is booming and generally when a market is booming the way it is the value based the value end is what actually grows the maximum. Despite that we are able to gain tremendous positions in many of our products, particularly in bigger excavator ranges between 30-tonne and 75-tonne our presence is becoming stronger and stronger every year.

Primarily it is not only our products that are making it successful but also our aftermarket capabilities and dealer capability is becoming very strong. So 2016 is a year where we have gained market share in many areas. We have achieved around 35-40 per cent growth year-on-year in the past one year.
In addition, keeping our focus on new product development, we have introduced the P5320B ABG paver in early 2016. We have also launched the new DD90B double drum compactor and SD110BA single drum compactor in Bauma Conexpo India 2016.

You have introduced D-Series excavators EC210D and EC250D. What will be your strategy to put these products in the market?
Volvo’s D-Series excavators 21-tonne rated EC210D and 25-tonne rated EC250D represent the latest in construction technology and are designed to perform well in a range of applications including road building, irrigation projects or work in materials handling duties. These excavators can deliver up to 10 per cent better fuel efficiency than their predecessors.

Our products are sold with very strong relationship with our customers. We have to be closer to our customers and create awareness about the product performance and features. We have invested heavily in improving our dealer capabilities in terms of technical capacities and support them come out of their financial crisis faced due to economic downturn. We need to further improve our penetration in the untapped markets.

What is your projection for 2017?
I think it will be a good market. Though the road construction equipment market will remain very strong, we expect the mining industry more particularly the coal and iron ore mining to pick up. The industry should see around 15 to 20 per cent growth depending up on how the government accelerates policies like GST. We target to maintain the similar kind of growth. The only challenge in the next year is the base set in 2016 which is very high and one cannot expect 40 per cent growth rate.