Indian customers are known to be extremely price sensitive. Has there been any evolution in their approach with regards to the technology and performance of the machines?
Well, customers all over the world are price sensitive but Indian buyers are perhaps a shade more. But I must say that from the machine tools industry perspective, customers are now maturing. There is a lot of change in terms of understanding of technology, machine performance and overall productivity. Even today, more than 70 percent of machines are imported so people are surely aware and are looking at higher technology.
We are also seeing a trend towards automation. India is no longer a low cost manufacturing hub; labour is becoming costly. Manufacturers now want faster, more precise and more automated machines so that they can optimally utilise the available resources. So the evolution is happening but it will still take time to spread. But that is what will separate the good companies from the not-so-good companies.
Do you see the domestic market bouncing back in the near future? What will be the driving factors for machine tool buyers in India?
Yes, absolutely, the domestic market will bounce back. FY 14-15 will be 10 percent to 15 percent better than the previous year and FY 15-16 and FY 16-17 will be definitely much better. I see the metal working industry growing 20 percent to 25 percent in these two years. Compared to China, India has always attracted better white-collar manufacturing jobs due to our country's focus on R&D.
This advantage will surely grow in the coming years. At the same time, India will also build capacities. Of course, the new government, which looks decisive in nature, must focus on infrastructure development. That itself will be a multiplying factor and will provide a big boost to manufacturing. So I am extremely bullish and I see India becoming a manufacturing hub with a lot of metal working happening here.
Have you launched any new product recently or are planning to do so? Tell us about it?
Our twin vertical spindle machining centre has been a big hit with customers as it offers the advantage of buying two machines in just one unit. We will be looking at launching a range of machines in this category. Similarly, we will be looking at launching a couple of revamped models of our bestsellers at the IMTEX 2015.
Any plans of expansion?
Certainly. Currently our capacity is about 5,000 machines per year and we are already selling 3,000 of these including about 700 for exports. We see this going up substantially. In fact, we are looking at the world as one global market and accordingly, we are looking at ramping up our capacity to 7,000 machines by 2017 and 10,000 machines by 2020.
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