Caterpillar Inc, the world’s leading mining and construction equipment maker, plans to bring to India its financial services as well as its blockbuster “remanufactured” products.
The company’s managing director for India, China and Asean, Kevin Thieneman told Business Line in an email interview that once the regulatory reforms are in place, Caterpillar plans to launch financial services as well as ‘reman’ (remanufacturing) products.
Key market
Remanufactured products are those where salvage techniques are used to restore worn and damaged components to the same functional performance of new products.
Thieneman said India is a key emerging market for Caterpillar because of good growth in the country’s infrastructure. He pointed out that the backhoe loader manufacturing facility near Chennai will not only strengthen the company’s presence in the market but also augment the distribution channel.
The other new facility, being built with an investment of $150 million, will have the capacity to produce its Perkins range of 4000 series engines in India.
By the time it becomes fully functional in 2013, its workforce would have gone up to 450. “Significant investments are being made to ensure that India is an important export base,” he said.
He pointed out that Indian customers are shifting priority from initial price to life-cycle costs.
With large investments currently being made in the infrastructure sector, the customer is keen today to complete the job quickly and efficiently to capture more opportunities, he said.
Hence, Caterpillar offers integrated solutions tailored to the needs of such customers.
Bottlenecks
Thieneman said certain bottlenecks in policy implementation need to be addressed quickly to move ahead to build better infrastructure.
“There are issues that plague the sector and the governments as well as private players need to address the loss caused by these lapses in infrastructure,” he said. But based on growth projections for the Indian economy, there are great opportunities for Caterpillar to grow its business in India, he pointed out.