What has been the impact of the fall in rupee on the business and technical performance of LiuGong India during this year? Is the company looking for more localization to minimize the impact?
Though, the Indian economy is still expanding faster than many economies of developed nations, the never-ending downfall in rupee value is merely a small exposure to the country’s deteriorating financial health. At present, the economic downfall in the Indian economy is not showing any positive signs. Moreover, Capital has dried up for the sector due to varied reasons including stringent norms for lending by RBI and lower risk appetite of the banks/ sectoral cap limits. We have had a flat year after experiencing growth from the past few years. We have invested in improving our service offerings thereby engaging with them and creating a value added partnership.We have also invested in localization to remain more competitive in the emerging scenario.
The summer months for the CE market has been a dull spell; will the coming winter spell be more harsher for it and market could spring up during spring season next year? What is LiuGong assessment of the CE market situation?
Owing to the overall slowdown in the Indian economy, the current fiscal year has been a bit sluggish for the construction equipment industry. The industry will gain momentum if the government starts implementing the delayed projects and carries out the active reviews and monitoring to ensure timely completion. Rising input cost, increase in the fuel prices and depreciation of rupee have also taken their toll on the market. However, the market is likely to pick-up by mid 2014 as the government is focusing on infrastructure development.
Tell us something about LiuGong Monsoon Magic programme. What are its objectives and features and their impact in the market?
Liugong, one of the leading manufacturers of the construction equipment, has rolled out monsoon scheme “MONSOON MAGIC” offer. The main motive behind this scheme is to provide more benefits to the customers during the monsoon as compared to any other season. The scheme will provide special benefits to the customers like upto 60 days EMI holidays, tenure availability up to 4 years and much more. The basic idea is to be more close to the customers and to ensure that each customer should get relief from the economic slowdown. The construction industry, which is battling the worst slowdown in a decade, has been trying new marketing efforts to kick start demand. This is a part of the company’s monsoon strategy to push the equipment demand in the market.
Would you please spell out details of the initiatives the company is taking to capture more market shares?
We are reasonably confident that Liugong has planned capacities well in India and will grow into the market and win share over time. We can also foresee our ability to take share increase with time, as we bring more of our products and capabilities to bear in India and related markets. The equipment industry has seen fluctuating growth in the last few quarters and we foresee that this will continue for the next few months, so we will keep watching the market.
How does the company propose to strengthen its pan India presence in the country deploying a vast network of dealers equipped in a position to render 24x7 technical services and products support?
With high growth potential, India is an exciting market to work on. Indian market is different from others-large, heterogeneous, and diversified requiring different solutions vis-à-vis other markets. It is both as a challenge as well as an opportunity. Liugong can successfully navigate these challenges and avail the opportunities in them. For India, we are strongly committed to bring in the latest technologies, products and best business practices from around the world to serve the local market conditions.
Liugong four–level of technical support involving operation support, basic maintenance support, annual maintenance, and timely parts support backed by our network of 20 dealers pan India will continue to ensure optimum customer and product support.” Our dealership support encompasses training for our overall competence levels within our dealerships.”
What are your plans to participate at Excon 2013 to be held in Bangalore? What new products, services, and developments are expected to be unveiled in this CE mega event?
Excon has always been an essential platform for all CE manufacturers to come closer to the customer. It has been a trend-setter in terms of spreading awareness about new CE technologies available in India as well as across the world. We believe that this edition also will go a long way in promoting CE business in India. We are going to display our complete range of products. The main attraction at our booth will be the presence of new members in our product family- Wheel Loaders. We sincerely hope that the visitors to our booth will be getting an incredible experience beyond their expectations.
