Kobelco Cranes India Pvt Ltd, part of the Japanese major Kobelco Cranes Co, commenced commercial production of its hydraulic crawler cranes in India from Thursday . Announcing this at a press conference here , Mr Isao Aida, President and CEO of the parent company, said the Rs 100-crore facility that has come up at Sri City, Tada, in Chittoor District (Andhra Pradesh), would produce 90 units of 100-tonne, 150-tonne and 250-tonne class cranes during the current year.

This is the company's first manufacturing facility outside Japan. Mr Aida added that the company is planning to achieve 35 per cent localisation in the first year and will gradually increase it to 50 per cent in the years to come.

The facility, besides catering to the domestic market here, would soon cater to markets in the neighbouring countries and “would help us sustain and increase our market share in the growing construction equipment market in India and its neighbouring countries.”

According to Mr Shinsuke Izumi, President and Director of Kobelco Cranes India, the local manufacturing of cranes would reduce the cost of the cranes and will be made available in the price range of Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 10 crore. “We expect to acquire a market share of 20 per cent by 2015,” he said. The current market size for cranes of a similar class in India is pegged at 500 units a year.

Betting big on the Indian market, the company will further enhance its production capacity with another round of investment next year, he said.

rravikumar@thehindu.co.in

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Published on February 2, 2012