We are putting up a new plant for screening machine in Pune investing around ` 80 crores

Mr Palagiri, how do you see the current scenario?
There are clear signs of improvement, even for customers also. Especially for the road sector, clear signs of revival have been seen and within 3-6 months of time we can really see things improving. The government has taken right decisions to go ahead and award more EPC contracts. Almost 40 tenders are expected to be opened up by end January. All these projects are going to take off in the next 3-6 months. Thus we are witnessing definite signs of revival and getting ready for the growth phase.

Now that GST is almost through, how will this make an impact?
GST will definitely help the industry by simpler taxation. It will also help in the development of rental industry. Machines can move freely from one state to another which has been a problem. The government is also doing away with the clearances to expand roads from 2 to 4 and 6 lanes. Policies are being made simpler and faster for land acquisition. Most of the bottlenecks which had earlier stopped the growth of the road sector are getting removed. From BOT they have moved to EPC, thus they are trying to make land acquisition simpler.

Do you think that PPP was a failure?
Most important thing is funding of infrastructure projects. We have to go back to PPP projects as the government is having limited funds. The only problem here was the contractors did very aggressive bidding. A lot of projects were not viable, in turn the land acquisition got delayed and project cost went up.

In the past 4-5 years there is a clear shift in technology as far as road building is concerned…
Wirtgen has been a pioneer as far as road building and road rehabilitation technologies are concerned and we have already introduced the milling and recycling in the past few years. Milling is well accepted in India as we have more than 100 milling machines in the country now and this market is going to grow now.

What are your expectations from the Kleemann launch?
At bC India we have launched EVO series of Kleemann crushing and screening plants. Kleemann has got more than 130 years of experience in crushing and screening industry. When Wirtgen group took over Kleemann in 2006, it was having expertise in quarry line. In the past few years we have developed the EVO series of contractor line which we call the new revolution of crushers. Our focus is on productivity and fuel consumption. These machines are doing well in Germany. With better productivity and fuel consumption, Kleemann range of products should be able to compete in the market.

Is this product available in the Indian market?
We will be offering the screens in India from 1st of April. We are putting up a new plant for screening machine in Pune investing around ` 80 crores. On 27th March we are having the inauguration of the plant. In April the first screening machine will roll out.

How was the year 2014? What is your outlook for 2015?
Though the overall market was down, it has been a good year for Wirtgen India. We have launched the Kleemann compactors 3 years back and now we are in the growth phase as the product is also doing well. This year we will be delivering 450 machines in the domestic market. Business has improved to about 20 per cent and this year we expect to end up with ` 400 crores.

The outlook for 2015 has been very good. Customers are quite positive with the approach. There are a lot of things to do especially with the improvement in the road and mining sectors. We are also working on new products.