Caterpillar is the world’s largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment today. The 90-year-old company is also a leading manufacturer of diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. The company has been active in the Indian market for decades and has a strong presence in a number of segments including construction, mining, energy, oil & gas, and transportation.
Discussing Caterpillar India’s plans for 2020, Mr. Vivek Vanmeeganathan, Country Head and Managing Director, Caterpillar India Pvt. Ltd., said: “We have been working on plans to expand our presence in India and maintain investments to support our growth plans here.”
Mr. Vanmeeganathan believes that the Government’s focus on infrastructure development and upgradation of roads and highways will spur a lot of construction activities, as a result of which the demand for construction equipment will also increase considerably in the coming months.
“Our strategy is to expand our operations in line with the emerging opportunities and requirements of the market. In line with this strategy, we have been making investments as well as launching products consistently in India. We will continue the strategy and invest to expand our business here”, added Mr. Vanmeeganathan.
Offering his thoughts on the current business scenario and Caterpillar’s roadmap for achieving its goals, he stated that business sentiment has improved in India. The Government has taken a lot of initiatives to attract investments in various sectors. Certain sectors like mining and roads and highways have been growing at 20% to 30% in the last two to three quarters. The power sector has also seen a turnaround in the recent months. Things also look optimistic in the oil and exploration sector.
The Country Head & MD firmly believes that Caterpillar is ideally positioned to take advantage of emerging market opportunities as the company has the technology, equipment, and expertise to implement projects in an efficient and cost effective manner.
Speaking about his expectations from the industry in the next three to four years, he mentioned that he expects a paradigm shift in the process of project implementation in the coming years.
It involves selecting companies that can offer not only products, but advanced technological solutions for faster and more efficient implementation as well. It will reduce the cost as well as the time needed for project implementation considerably.
Caterpillar, with its state-of-the-art equipment and world class technological capabilities, can play a key role in such a scenario. Citing an example, he said: “The Government of India targets to construct 30 km to 100 km of roads per day and Caterpillar India has end-to-end solutions to help the Government achieve this target.”
According to Mr. Vanmeeganathan, Caterpillar India plans to focus on developing the best distribution, investing in R&D to develop the best products and technologies for customers, and improving operational manufacturing performance through lean.
Dwelling further, he said that the Government’s initiatives for infrastructure development as well as projects like Swachh Bharat, Clean Ganga, and Make in India will boost the growth in various segments like ports, airports, and roads and highways. He concluded by saying that Caterpillar India is a strong position to contribute to each and every initiative in these sectors with state-of-the-art equipment and advanced technological solutions.
By M.K. Prabhakar