Kobelco Construction Machinery is to begin producing hydraulic excavators in southern India next year.
The earthmoving equipment manufacturer said that the Tamil Nadu-based facility will be capable of producing 1,200 20 tonne hydraulic excavators per year once it is on-stream.
“We have invested around Rs50 crore ($10 million) in the plant set up on 17 acres. Based on the market, we may scale up the capacity to 3,000 units in two years time,” company director Tadahiro Akihara told local media.
The company currently has 17 dealers and more than 50 service points, but it is aggressively pursuing market share in the country and adding dealers the northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir.
“This year we hope to sell around 500 units and record a turnover of around Rs200 crore. Our market share will be around five percent.”
Akihara said Kobelco will import engines and hydraulics with fabrication components sourced from India.
“We were a bit late in coming to India as other major global players like Caterpillar, Hitachi, Komatsu had started their Indian operations,” Akihara added. “With a plant in India the company will be able to pass on major cost savings – import duty and ocean freight – to the customers.”
