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Construction equipment company JC Bamford Excavators Limited is upbeat on business prospects in India and expects to commission new Greenfield manufacturing units near Jaipur in Rajasthan, its fourth in India, with an investment of Rs 500 crore.
The first unit coming up 115-acre site will be ready by April 2014 and the second one within few months at the same location. With this JCB India, the fully owned subsidiary of the UK-based world’s largest manufacturer of earth-moving, agricultural equipment and materials handling equipment, will have four manufacturing plants in India.
JCB, which began India operations in 1979, now has two manufacturing units near Pune in Maharashtra and another one at Ballabhgarh in Haryana. The Ballabhgarh plant is the largest backhoe loader plant in the world, also manufacturing Liftall and pick-&-carry cranes and modern diesel engines.
Taking through their headquarters in UK and the three manufacturing units, JCB’s senior management said that they were upbeat on India business prospects and also the strategic role it plays for them as a manufacturing and export hub for engines and components for their global operations.
Interacting with a small group of visiting journalists, Sir Anthony Bamford, Chairman of JCB, Alan Blake, CEO and Graeme Macdonald, CEO-designate, said Indian market and JCB manufacturing plants are of strategic importance in the company’s global operations and as a sourcing hub.
Bamford said that the company plans to expand its product portfolio in India step up exports once it commissions the new facility at Jaipur in India.
JCB now offers more than 24 variants in India across seven products lines such as backhoe loaders, excavators, compactors and wheel loaders.
Referring to the current business environment, Bamford said that the Indian economy may be passing through a tough cycle, but the long term outlook is extremely good. JCB hopes to grow at a much faster rate than the economy.
With huge potential in developing India’s infrastructure, Blake said that the demand for construction and earth moving equipment will continue to grow.
About 10-12 per cent of equipment produced in India are exported to other markets such as South Africa, countries in the Far East and components to it other manufacturing units including in the United Kingdom.
Over the years, JCB has developed a strong engineering and design teams at Pune and Delhi. “We now plan to increase this team and hope to double this over the next two-three years,” Macdonald said.
The test facility in India offers JCB the advantage of testing the products and equipment in hot temperatures.
> rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in
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