Schwing Stetter India (SSI), a leading readymix concrete equipment manufacturer, announced its expansion into the crowded Indian excavator market, while its Chinese partner XCMG realigns India plans.

The company on Thursday unveiled the new generation XCMG crawler hydraulic excavators - XE80C, XE140 I and XE215 C. This follows Schwing Stetter’s pact with the leading Chinese construction equipment maker XCMG in January 2017.

As per the latest update, the Chinese firm has withdrawn its ₹150-million plan to set up a manufacturing unit in India. Instead, Schwing Stetter India is establishing a new factory at Cheyyar, located about 90 km west of Chennai, at an investment of ₹230 crore.

The factory which is expected to commence production by early next year will make XCMG’s products that will be sold in India. It will start with production of motor graders and wheel loaders and will subsequently start making XCMG excavators.

The unit will have a production capacity of 2,500 excavators per year on a single shift. The ₹2,000-crore Schwing Stetter India will initially focus on southern States for its excavator business and it will also, for the first time, look to set up dealerships in select locations. The company has been selling its products directly so far.

The excavator market will continue to grow in the coming years due to more investments in infrastructure projects such as interlinking of rivers, road and rail construction. This market grew to 25,000 units in 2018 from 11,000 units in 2011, said VG Sakthikumar, Managing Director of Schwing Stetter India.

He said that the company would aim to achieve a prominent position in the Indian excavator market with its Schwing Stetter-XCMG range of excavators, supported by better energy-saving performance, breakthrough cost efficiency and best return on investment promised by its products.

“The new products we launched today are India-specific and we will widen the range depending upon the market response and requirements,” he added.