Heavy machines maker JCB, which is growing in double digits this year, is planning to make its machines ‘greener’ by reducing fossil fuel consumption.
One in two heavy machines (construction equipment, agricultural, and waste management machines) sold in India is a JCB-made machine, claimed JCB chief executive officer and managing director Deepak Shetty.
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Speaking to Business Standard, Shetty said that this week they launched the JCB NXT 215 LC Fuel Master, which has been designed to reduce fuel consumption by 14 per cent compared to its previous model. “This machine will reduce fuel consumption by 2,000 litres every year, and the new model also offers a 5 per cent increase in productivity,” Shetty said. The potential saving to the owner is Rs 2.9 lakh a year or so.
The company has been working on making its machines more fuel-efficient. Over the last 10 years, it has improved the efficiency of its backhoe loader by almost 40 per cent, Shetty said.
“JCB was the first to launch a CNG-powered backhoe loader in 2021, and we are also the first to launch a hydrogen combustion machine. We are now taking the machine through testing and validation. The infrastructure is yet to come up,” he added.
“We are absolutely bullish on this as the government has the National Hydrogen Mission. We are in talks with various government departments on this too. Creation of the hydrogen ecosystem is ongoing. We are also working on various elements of that ecosystem,” Shetty said.
Last December, it unveiled its maiden machine powered by a newly developed hydrogen combustion engine. However, presently, the demand for CNG machines is not high.
“Our machines are used mostly in rural areas, where the penetration of CNG stations is low. So, we launch machines with dual technology – CNG and diesel. Presently, demand for CNG machines is less,” Shetty said.
On the overall demand front, he said that this year the industry has grown by double digits so far.
“At the beginning of the year, everyone thought that there would be a slowdown considering it’s an election year. However, the focus on infrastructure remains, and we have seen double-digit growth both for JCB and also the industry. The industry has grown by 12 per cent, and JCB has grown by 14 per cent between January and September. The remaining quarter also we expect to be a strong one,” Shetty explained.
He expected that there would be pre-buying ahead of an emission norm change for wheeled machines from January 1. Therefore, the October-December period would see good traction as the festival period also coincides with this period.
In 2023, JCB sold 45,000 units. In 2024, it expects to sell more than 50,000 machines. Shetty did not wish to share turnover details. By 2030, the construction equipment market in India would be 250,000 units or so, and Shetty said this represents a big opportunity for players like JCB.
Rural demand too has been decent this year. More than 60 per cent of construction equipment is sold in rural areas. This year, the monsoons were good, which has boosted rural demand.
“Focus on 30 million houses in rural areas, and connecting villages through the PM Gram Sadak Yojana, etc are all big factors creating demand. Some of the agricultural machines too are finding more demand with good monsoons this year,” Shetty said.
Exports, however, are flat this year. The company has exported around 12,000 machines in the first nine months of 2024. Last year, it exported around 17,000 machines. JCB exports to 130 countries, the largest being the US.
Shetty said that challenges in markets like Europe and the Middle East due to the war situation have resulted in flat growth in exports this year.
Meanwhile, it is also pushing to have more women on the shop floor – up to 25 per cent (from the current 16-17 per cent) in the next 2-3 years. While its older plants have fewer women on the shop floor, the new ones like Vadodara (52 per cent) and Jaipur (34 per cent) have high women representation.
Shetty said that in the new locations, they are pushing for diversity. In the new facilities, they target to have 50 per cent women on the shop floor and also for graduate engineer trainees (GETs).
First Published: Oct 10 2024 | 4:59 PM IST
