Excon ‘Building India for a New World – Competitiveness, Growth, Sustainability, Technology’

The past two years will be remembered as a period of disruption, resilience, and re-alignment with the new way of doing business. In the new normal, companies are focusing on reinventing their business models and strategies, and finding new ways to reach their business associates and customers. In fact, many OEMs spent the lockdown phase doing R&D on new machines, integrating technologies, developing prototypes, upgrading their existing machines, and generally mulling new strategies to survive the economic setback.

The last edition of Excon was held in December 2019, after which, no big exhibition or conference has taken place, where equipment manufacturers and buyers could interact and explore new business avenues. Now, Excon 2021 is set to open its doors (albeit after a gap of 30 months) on 17th May 2022 at BIEC, Bengaluru. Needless to say, equipment manufacturers, buyers, contractors, and all other stakeholders are enthused with a new energy and zeal as the event draws near.

The supply chain disruption during the pandemic threw up many challenges; it became a daunting task for equipment users to source spare parts and critical components from equipment manufacturers. But, as the CE Industry has proven, in every challenge the brave hearted can find solutions. Equipment manufacturers quickly adapted to the situation and began to focus on Agility, Consumer Centricity, and the next level of Digitization. Their aim was to turn obstacles into opportunities. So they armed themselves with technology and began to serve their customers without too many hiccups.

This new spirit will be seen at Excon 2021 as equipment manufacturers take on a new and a more proactive approach in offering solutions and services, with significant reliance on technology and digitization. After all, projects – ongoing or upcoming - must not be held up due to equipment unavailability.

The theme of Excon 2021 ‘Building India for a New World – Competitiveness, Growth, Sustainability, Technology’ - takes the CE industry a step ahead by laying emphasis on the government’s ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India - Make for the World’. These slogans are adding a new possibility and a new avenue of growth for OEMs. With the introduction of BSIV emission norm, and the government’s focus on incentivizing manufacturing, OEMs have upgraded their machines and brought them at par with world standards, and proactively looking towards export options. A few big manufacturers have even reported an export growth of 100-200% in 2021.

In this Excon ‘Curtain Raiser’ issue, Excon 2021 Chairman and CEO & MD of JCB India, Mr. Deepak Shetty, tells us about the preparations going on for the big event, and that organiser CII is leaving no stone unturned to make the event a memorable one. Feedback from over 20 equipment manufacturers also shows their preparedness and excitement at the prospect of displaying their new products and technologies, meeting customers, and networking with the industry veterans.

Excitement is building up for the week-long event. Over 1000 companies will exhibit their products and technologies; I am sure that no one in the infra construction industry could afford to miss such a massive gathering.

S. A. Faridi
Managing Editor