Heavy equipment sellers in Nepal are reaping the benefits from the booming infrastructure construction activities happening in the country. Although demand for construction equipment slowed in 2013-14 owing to low investor confidence, resulting in delays in construction projects, it has started to pick up lately. Political stability is the key for development activities. Given long-term stability and increased investment, Nepal’s construction market is expected to emerge in a big way in the coming years. In this context, Krishana Prasain of the Post caught up with Vipin Sondhi, managing director and chief executive officer of JCB India, who was here for the launch of new products and the inauguration of JCB’s new dealership premises, to talk about the heavy equipment market and its future plans in Nepal. Excerpts:   

As you know, there are several ongoing major infrastructure projects particularly roads, airports, irrigation systems and hydropower plants in the country. In this scenario, Nepal has become one of the key markets for heavy duty construction equipment. How do you observe the market?

We are very excited about the opportunity in Nepal as the country has been growing rapidly in infrastructure development activities. Demand for our equipment has also been growing at a faster pace. For JCB, Nepal is a very crucial market. Last year, MAW was named among the top five dealerships in the world in terms of number of machineries sold. That is why; we are here with a very large team. 

Sales of heavy construction equipment in Nepal are expected to have totalled $1 billion as of now. What’s your share?  How do you assess your sales growth in Nepal?

In the overall heavy equipment sector, we have a market share of close to 50 percent. In backhoe loaders, we hold a market share of 67 percent, 21 percent in excavators, more than 50 percent in wheel loader shovel and 20 percent in compactor. In the last fiscal year 2017-18, we sold 2,000 units of heavy equipment. The figure was 1,600 in previous fiscal year. We have been growing 20 percent every year and we expect stronger growth as the spending of Nepal’s government in infrastructure projects is increasing massively. We expect to grow by 15-20 percent this fiscal year. JCB is committed to ensuring that any product that comes here is world class and that is why we have been growing not only in volume but also in market share. 

Is the heavy equipment demand in Nepal driven by perennial shortage of manpower? 

No, I do not think so. The difficult terrain here needs machines. Machines and people needs to go together because it will take a lot of time if things are done manually. So it’s not driven by shortage of manpower. However, necessary training is required for engineers to operate machines and to be skilled.  a

We already have an operator training school. We are planning to open a second one soon. We have already trained more than 3,000 heavy equipments operators in Nepal. 

How are JCB equipments better than other brands?

We focus on being close with customers as much possible and for that we assure the best after sales service and service parts. We also have the widest range of heavy equipment available in the country as we have five different products and within each product lineup, we have many more models. In order to provide service, we have 12 branches all over Nepal, covering important places. We have 12 spare parts outlets and four resellers as well. 

What are your future plans?

As construction activities are happening in difficult geographies, we are focused on bringing our best products to Nepal.