What is your take on PM Modi's ‘Make in India' campaign? Do you also aspire to make Schwing Stetter India as Asian manufacturing hub for the Group?
It is good that our Prime Minister Mr. Modi is campaigning for ‘Make in India'. As far as major equipment are concerned, several Indian companies were already manufacturing equipment in India. However, we have been missing the high quality and high cost components that go into producing these equipment. Unfortunately the numbers are not good enough in India to produce them in India. So the key to ‘Make in India' is that the equipment industry has to grow, which in turn depends on speedy implementation of infrastructure projects.

The last few years were not good for your industry due to the slump in the infrastructure sector for various reasons. While the sentiments have improved quite positively since the present government has taken charge, a lot more is required on the ground. What are the key challenges facing your sector and how are you dealing with them?
You are right that the last few years have been de-growth for the construction equipment industry. In 2011, which was the peak, almost 70,000 construction equipment were sold by Indian manufacturers.

This number has come down to 40,000. After the recession in 2009, the Indian market bounced back in 2010 and 2011; so most of the manufacturers invested and increased the capacity. Unfortunately, the capacity utilisation currently in most of the companies varies between 50 percent to 70 percent.

This is our biggest challenge. As far as infrastructure projects are concerned, we see some development in the road sector. But other segments like ports, metro rail and dam construction projects, power projects are still lagging.

Real estate industry is still in a bad shape and unless these projects improve, our business will not grow. It is a challenge to meet the expenses with lower revenue - let alone make a profit.

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