The second chapter of Construction Equipment Rental Association (CERA)'s recent meet in New Delhi saw a congregation of about 300 participants comprising largely of equipment rental agencies, dealers, equipment manufacturers, financiers, corporates and purchase heads, to discuss the contribution of construction equipment & crane rental companies towards building India’s infrastructure. It was also the inaugural edition of NATCON (National Convention 2018: Constructing New India) organized in association with Schwing Stetter XCMG.
Delivering the keynote address, Satin Sachdeva, Founder & Secretary General, CERA, and MD & CEO, Equipment Planet, said, “CERA has come a long way since its first meet in Delhi, which saw participation of a handful of 20-24 equipment rental agencies, mainly from piling rigs and crane segments. As we move forward, there are multiple tasks ahead for the Association to ensure higher standardization of the CE rental industry in India.”
He pointed out that CERA is sensitizing the industry about the need and benefits of standardization and as an organized sector has been receiving support from equipment manufacturers for standardization of guidelines, operating procedures, business rules and practices, rental tariffs, salaries of operators, warehouse sharing prices and many other indicators. Hence, CERA is becoming a certifying agency for equipment rental services, products, technology, operators and engineers, job creation, skill development, financing growth, promoting next gen manufacturing, sustainability, corporate social responsibility and good governance.
He added, “To a fair extent, we have been able to address the issue of standardization of work orders, payment recovery issues and hiring rates, in cooperation with the contractors. We have also addressed issues like machinery and operator management in consultation with equipment manufacturers and service providers. To make the CE rental industry more competitive, we are creating a mobile app which will share details amongst CERA members on empty yard space available to enable them to set up a common parking yard for their equipment. This will curtail transportation and operation costs.”
In his words: “Rental companies are the backbone of India’s infra development. Without a rental company, an infra project would not gain momentum. We economize the costs of projects which would otherwise be tremendously high if the projects had to purchase their own equipment and machineries.”
Jitender Agarwal, Vice President, CERA, speaking about the growing significance of CERA, said, “It is important to strengthen the relationship between the construction equipment rental companies, project & infrastructure corporates, manufacturers and financers so that we can leverage it for mutual benefits.”
Rishi Raj Agarwalla, Regional Head- Maharashtra, CERA, said, “There is an immediate need to form a legislation to prevent theft, detention of equipment and delayed payments. More operator training is also required due to rampant poaching of operators, especially in the piling equipment industry. Demand has also resulted in a surge in operator salaries.”
Arvind Saraf, Regional Head, CERA, West Bengal, added, “Standardization in the rental industry has become necessary with demand for superior quality construction across all sectors, and higher offtake of equipment.”
Announcing that CERA has become the official partner of bauma Conexpo India, Tushar Alekar, Commercial Director, bC India, informed that their upcoming trade event in December in Gurgaon will be spread across 1,95,000 sqm, and will showcase advancements in equipment, plants and machinery, and host a series of conferences and buyer-seller meets.
V.G. Sakthikumar, Whole Time Director, Schwing Stetter India, said, “Compared to 7% market share of the rental equipment industry in India, it is 65% in Japan, 55% in USA, and 35% in China. So, there is ample room for us to grow and support India’s infrastructure development. Schwing Stetter India has 50% of its business with rental companies and it will continue to extend its support to them with its expert solutions, reliable products and after-sales service.”
CERA chapters will be opening in UP, MP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, AP, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. The next CERA meet/workshop will be held in Mumbai.
