Strong products and unfaltering customer service delivering the right results
The domestic CV market had a roller coaster ride in FY19. If there was one segment that outperformed the others, by quite a distance, it was tippers which grew by a staggering 48 per cent in FY19. The CV market leader Tata Motors has traditionally enjoyed a very strong position in the tipper space despite growing competition over the years. We spoke to Mr. Rajesh Kaul, Vice President & Product Line Head, M&HCV, Tata Motors, to find out how the company’s tipper biz fared in FY19 and how it plans to hold on to its lead in the current year.
Excerpts:
How has Tata Motors’ tipper business performed since the start of 2019? Does the infra sector continue to drive the sale of tippers?
The medium & heavy commercial vehicle industry in India (trucks and tippers of 16-ton GVW and above) has witnessed an 11% growth for FY18-19 as compared to FY17-18. The tipper segment has fuelled this growth with 48% growth in volumes in the same period.
Faster execution of the construction projects is one of the major reasons for this growth. Government spending has increased multi-fold on infrastructure and road development projects. Building of Smart cities, railway projects, SEZ projects, port and port road development works, irrigation projects and other infrastructure projects are leading to a growth for tippers.
Mining tippers largely remain in the 6×4 category where we have been seeing a shift from 4×2 to 6×4 and in some cases to 8×4 configurations. Whereas for surface movement applications the shift is to 8×4, 8×2, 10×2 & Tip trailers (upto 55T GCW).
Tippers TIV (All India) for Q4 for FY 2018-19 months (Jan’19-Mar’19) has been around 8,500 per month, registering a YOY growth for the same period of 23%. This is good given the fact that Q4 – FY 2017-18 had considerably high volumes.
We have further strengthened our market shares in the tipper segment to above 50%. We have introduced new variants for our Prima & Signa range of tippers that will help to increase the profitability of our customers. This backed by our focus on service, has helped gain market share last year.
While, on the one side, the actual vehicle has kept getting better in terms of fuel performance, safety, driver comfort, reliability, etc., are you offering any value-added services for the benefit of your tipper customers? Please share some examples/cases wherein customers have taken up these services and benefited from the same.
Customer comfort has always been one of our key focus areas. We offer fully-built solutions along with a host of other features to make Tata Motors a one-stop shop and make our customers buying and post-sale experience very comfortable. On the features front, we have added comfortable Signa and Prima Cabins equipped with ergonomically designed seats in many of our vehicles. Prima comes with a world class air-conditioned cabin equipped with three-way adjustable driver seats that offer utmost driver comfort.
Tata Motors has stayed a step ahead and launched several programs that are tailor-made for specific customer needs. Our ‘Sampoorna Seva’ services package of Annual Maintenance Contracts, Prolife (reconditioned aggregates), Tata Alert (road side assistance), Tata Fleetman (telematics), Tata Kavach, etc., have been recognized as benchmarks in the M&HCV trucks industry. Tata vehicles have been designed at the highest safety levels, so these are very safe to drive. However in any unfortunate incidence, drivers driving a Tata tipper are well protected with this first of its type insurance cover. Also, every year under the delight program, meritorious kids of the drivers’ community are provided scholarships.
Through our customized 24×7 Onsite Service Support, company-trained experts are based at site. At the same time, spare parts and lubes are deployed at site to ensure that daily preventive and corrective maintenance activities are carried out more effectively and efficiently. Many customers operating tippers at far away sites have benefited from our container workshops.
Some of our path-breaking initiatives first-in-industry 6 years warranty or 6 lacs kilometres or 6000 hours service have created a benchmark in the industry. Tata Alert ensures Vehicle Service across all Major National and State Highways, Golden Quadrilateral (EW-NS) in case of breakdowns. Tata Motors Suraksha is a comprehensive annual maintenance contract.
Tata Fleetman- Fleet telematics ensures Real Time Vehicle Tracking & Geo Fencing, Trip & Driver Performance Management. Mr. Deepak Kumar, one of our esteemed customers, was able to retrieve his consignment of copper wires worth crores from a local gang who had stolen his 4018 Trailer. This was possible with the help of the local police who used GPS mapping by Tata FleetMan services. KM Trans Logistics has institutionalized a detailed procedure of safety debriefing of drivers based on the driving incidences recorded and transmitted through Tata Fleetman, and thereby improved the overall safety record significantly.
Thought it is quite obvious that the election results would play a major role in determining the performance of the truck industry, including tipper sales, how does FY19-20 look for the tipper segment?
With rising industrial activity, commercial vehicle growth will continue with a robust demand in the mining sector. The construction sector will see an uptick as Government spending on housing, rural roads, ports, rail transport and airport development continue. The pace of growth for MHCV tipper volumes may not be as high as the current fiscal, as base for next year (i.e., current year volumes) will be very high due to a massive volume build-up this year. However, we can see a sustained volume and demand in the next fiscal on account of a lot of construction & road projects which are under execution or have been awarded in the recent past. Next fiscal year will also see a lot of pre-buying, as the implementation of BS-VI rules kicks in from 2020. We have seen this trend during earlier BS norm transitions and also seen similar buying in some other advanced economies like the US.
The Government is mulling on ways to deal with some financial closures of the HAM road projects already awarded, project over runs due to issues like land acquisition, rising cumulative order book to revenue ratio of major road construction players & increasing repayment cycles. Also, further need & mode of arranging funds for development works is being looked into very closely so that the pace of new projects and execution of the already awarded projects continues to grow. We believe that post the upcoming general elections, a stable government at the Centre would mean that India could continue to be the ‘big story’ for infrastructure development, steel and iron-ore sectors in the years to come.
‘Tata products and services have played a huge role in the success of my business’
Interview with Mr. Sanjay Kumar Swain, Proprietor, Baba Gora Transport (Sundargarh, Odisha)
How many Tata Motors tippers do you have in your fleet? Is your entire fleet comprised of Tata vehicles only?
We have a total of 78 cargo and construction vehicles in our fleet. The entire fleet comprises of Tata Motors vehicles.
Since when have you been using Tata tippers? Why do you prefer the brand over other options available in the market?
We started our business in 2002 and our first purchase was a Tata SK 1613 tipper. Quality service, easy parts availability and quick response upon enquiry are some of the aspects that have driven me to prefer Tata Motors over other brands.
How has your experience been with respect to the sales & service extended by Tata Motors? Right from your first enquiry, through the vehicle purchase, till date, what are the three most important aspects/factors that have kept you bonded with Tata Motors and use its vehicles?
The sales and service support has always taken care of our purchase requirement right from enquiry to product finalization while also helping us with finance. The Tata brand equity, strong service support and parts availability are the three pillars for our long-standing relationship with Tata Motors.
How important has Tata Motors been for the success of your business?
The product and services have played a huge role in the success of my business today. The low cost of maintenance, better fuel economy, and better uptime of vehicle with minimum breakdown of Tata vehicles have helped me succeed in my business. Tata Motors’ value-added services have completely changed the customer perception in this competitive market scenario.
I am very thankful to Tata Motors for bringing unmatched aftersales service package in the market that are very customer-friendly and helpful in the hour of desperate need. Our driver pool is hugely benefitted by using Sampoorna Seva tool names – ‘Tata Alert’ where they easily register the complaint from any remote location for seeking help on priority. Six years / 6000 hours warranty is boon to any transporter community as any aggregates manufacturing defect will be completely taken care of by Tata Motors in the said warranty period, which is 2 years above the average EMI tenure period of the vehicle. With the introduction of Tata Fleetman device in the Signa range cabin, I am able to keep track of all my new 14 WH tipper location, vehicle mileage and performance directly over my phone. Through Tata Delight, Tata Motors has taken care of driver insurance for a span of 5 years, which is unmatched in the CV industry.
Moving forward, do you plan to expand your fleet in the near future?
We have purchased 53 new vehicles in 2018-19 and have placed an order for another nine units this March. After that we will wait for the implementation of BS-VI regulation in the next financial year before going for our next purchase.