On the construction equipment sector
Some experts believe that there is still a substantial gap between the Indian Construction Equipment market and the developed Construction Equipment markets in terms of technology maturity, particularly with regard to system engineering and use of embedded electronics. Nanda already has the answer ready: "Indian infrastructure and the machines we use have come a long way in the past decade or so. Of late, we have been seeing all sorts of latest, global machines being used at our construction sites in India. Escorts, in particular, has had partnerships with the world's best engineering firms over the last 65 years and I take great pride in saying that our research capabilities are the same as the rest of the world. The products we are building today and the features we provide are at par with the best of the world."

The last few years haven't been good for the Indian CE industry due to the obvious slump in the infrastructure sector for various reasons. Does he see the scenario changing with the initiatives taken by the government? What more needs to be done to change the situation? "Over the past two years, there has been a sign of a revival in the industry. Things are more positive and the new programs undertaken by the government need to be given more time."

On the railways sector
The long-term prospect of the railways business gets Nanda all excited. He believes that the concerted efforts being undertaken by the railways ministry is auguring well for the modernisation and capacity de-bottlenecking of the Indian Railways. "Moreover, the talks around high-speed trains and the expansion of Metro rail service in various cities have certainly elevated our outlook about the industry."

So what will be the key growth drivers and emerging opportunities in the next two years for this sector? How is Escorts gearing up to make the most of the opportunities? "We closed the last fiscal with substantial worth of orders in hand including the developmental order for our indigenously-designed axle-mounted disc brakes, and going forward, we intend to widen our product suite through either captive development or by forging technology partnerships, thereby taking the business to its next level of growth," he says. 

On the auto components sector
There has been a turnaround of sorts in the auto sector in the last couple of months. Nanda agrees. "The auto industry is definitely getting back on track. To restructure our Auto Products business, we implemented a Group-wide VRS initiative, which was availed by a significant number of employees. We are optimistic this initiative will enable greater efficiencies and productivity. This was paired with a stronger focus on our dealership, productivity and shop-floor efficiency gains, and portfolio optimisation. We had seen EBIT losses for the auto division declining in 2014-15, a traction that is still continuing."

Escorts Auto Products has a wide product portfolio, which includes products catering to two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and the defence segment. "So, we are well geared to take advantage of any recovery in the sector. However, given the uncertain macro-economic environment, demand especially for commercial vehicles, is going to take some time to return to normal levels," he shares.

For the auto business, Escorts has also placed greater focus on domestic as well as global aftermarkets, and expanded its merchant exports to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Egypt and Dubai as well as entered many of these markets through direct dealers.

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