JCB expects sales bounce back to 2011 levels

Earth moving and construction equipment company JCB India expects machine sales figures to reach 2011 mark by the end of the year. The company had sold 26,678 machines in 2011, the year the industry peaked.

The industry started declining year-on-year before bottoming out in 2015. The industry growth rate in the first seven months (January-July) has been 40% and going by that figure we expect growth of 20 per cent by December 2016, Vipin Sondhi, Managing Director and chief executive officer of JCB India.

The company said the upward trend in the industry has been due to the revival of the roads and highways sector. The public-private-partnership (PPP) model was a learning process and the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and the Hybrid Annuity model has brought in changed perspective.

The company that has five facilities in India exports to 65 countries including markets in Southeast Asia, West Asia, Africa and South America. The company has invested Rs 600 crore for the expansion of two facilities in Jaipur. Meanwhile, like most other industries, construction equipment industry has also been affected by China.