India’s vibrant construction machinery market is good news for bauma CONEXPO INDIA 2018

Rising demand in the Indian construction machinery market due to the country’s huge and prolonged investment in new infrastructure is set to lead to bumper crowds at 8253 bauma CONEXPO INDIA 2018.

Many key construction and quarrying equipment industry players such as, KYB-Conmat, Manitou Equipment India, Puzzolana, Schwing Stetter India, Volvo India, 7497 Wacker Neuson and 6550 Wirtgen India have already confirmed their participation in the event being staged 11-14 December at the HUDA Ground in Gurgaon/Delhi.

The Indian construction machinery market saw an eye-catching 34% rise in unit sales in 2016, while the German Engineering Federation (4293 VDMA) reporting a still healthy 12% rise in sales in 2017. “The start of 2018 was also extremely positive,” said Sebastian Popp of the Construction Equipment and Plant Engineering Association in the VDMA.

The Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), established by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry to promote international brand and location marketing activities, estimates that in the Indian fiscal year of 2018—i.e. from April 2017 until March 2018—almost 97,000 construction machines were sold throughout the country.

Furthermore, looking at the World Economic League Table 2018 published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, India will overtake the United Kingdom and France in terms of the gross domestic product to move two places up and become the world's fifth largest economy in 2018.

According to the British market research company Off-Highway Research, infrastructure expansion is a top priority for the Indian government – with road construction at the very top of the agenda. In October 2017, India’s political leaders approved the biggest ever highway development plan to develop and expand almost 84,000 kilometres of roads at an investment of US$107 billion by 2022. Money that is undoubtedly set to further boost sales of construction and quarrying machines.

Off-Highway Research, for example, believes that the sale of bulldozers in India will increase by more than 25% over the next five years. According to the experts, quite a few foreign companies managed to gain significant Indian market shares, competing with domestic manufacturers, including dominant Indian bulldozer manufacturer BEML.

India’s real estate market—primarily housing—is also said to be sending out positive signals. The IBEF assumes that it will grow in value from an estimated US$126 billion in 2015 to US$180 billion in 2020.

In the Indian construction machinery market, crawler excavators and backhoe loaders remain a mainstay. According to IBEF these two types are expected to account for 68% of the units sold in 2018. With an increase of almost 6% over 2015, crawler excavators are estimated to yield the highest growth rate.