Construction Equipment sales grew by 18% in Q1 of FY 2023-24, as compared to Q1 of the last fiscal year, as the total equipment sales increased to 27,244 units against 23,037 equipment sold in the first quarter of FY 2022-23. Of this, 24,806 were sold domestically while 2,438 were exported.
“The industry has maintained its growth momentum in the first quarter of the current fiscal year and have recorded a high growth mainly due to the accelerated pace at which the infrastructure projects are being implemented”, said Mr. V. Vivekanand, Incoming President, ICEMA and Managing Director, Caterpillar (I). “Many infrastructure projects are in the pipeline, and new projects are also expected to be floated at a rapid pace in the near future, which will help drive the future growth of the industry” added Mr. Krishnan.”
The growth in sales during the first quarter of the current fiscal comes on the back of positive growth in three of the CE industry’s major equipment segments, viz., Earthmoving Equipment by 19%, Road Construction Equipment by 38% and Material Handling Equipment by 57%. The other two major equipment segments – Material Processing Equipment and Concrete Equipment – registered minor drop in sales, of 10% and 11% respectively. On a month-on-month basis, overall CE sales in June 2023 at 8,781 units were 2% lower than 8,986 units sold in May 2023.
Earthmoving Equipment, which accounts for around 70% to total CE sales, sold 18,831 units in Q1 of FY 24, of which the bulk was comprised of increased sales of backhoe loaders (10,161 numbers) and crawler excavators (6,866 numbers). The substantive growth of 57% in sales of Material Handling Equipment comes on the back of spurt in sales of 2,966 pick and carry cranes.
“We welcome the sales growth in Q1 and expect the positive trend to continue,” said Mr. V. G. Sakthikumar, Convener, ICEMA Industry Analysis and Insights Panel and Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India Pvt. Ltd. “The higher budgetary allocation to the infrastructure sector are showing results in the form of pickup in the pace of infrastructure projects, and this is expected to gather pace in the coming months which is expected to create higher demand construction equipment, going forward. The industry expects the next two quarters to see a boost in demand on the back of the directive of the government to spend 80% of the budget allocation for the infrastructure sector by December 2023,” he explained.
Mr. Dimitrov Krishnan, outgoing President ICEMA and MD, Volvo CE India Pvt. Ltd. said, “the current fiscal being an election year, the projects in the pipeline, as well as those that start shortly, are expected to be completed well in time. We would urge the government to ensure a steady pace of execution of projects, which is critical for sustained demand creation and hence the growth of the Construction Equipment industry.”
The ICEMA Panel on Industry Analysis and Insights provides robust and credible market intelligence by collating, generating, and analysing industry data. The value-added quarterly CE Industry Report is among the several industry reports collated based on data shared by its member companies which represent about 95% of the OEMs operating in the Indian Construction Equipment industry.
ICEMA (Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association) is the nodal body representing the Construction Equipment industry (OEMs, suppliers and FIs) in the country and is affiliated to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).