LiuGong India

Nischal Mehrotra, Director

"We will be showcasing our entire range of Road and Earthmoving Equipment, and will also launch two new product ranges for road construction, at bauma CONEXPO INDIA."

We plan to set up a full-fledged manufacturing line for excavators next year.

With the good number of projects being awarded and implemented, the coming years will witness a boom in the CE sector. Even though 2019 is an election year, we don’t foresee it affecting the growth momentum. The year 2018 has been a good year for LiuGong with our increase in sales. We have grown about 30% y-o-y. Following our launch of excavators last year, we plan to set up a full-fledged manufacturing line at our facilities in 2019.

Customers, apart from being cost conscious, are welcoming equipment with advanced technology.

At LiuGong, we have never compromised on deploying the latest technologies and will continue to do so. In this process, we keep a close watch on the cost factor, thereby, giving customers products that give them value for their money. Furthermore, as China is a big hub for mass production of equipment, with all the big brands having their facilities there, we have the expertise for providing complete ROI to our customers.

Although advanced technologies are being welcomed by customers, however, it will take some more time before they are used more widely as the end-users need to be trained on their usage.

We plan to make our presence stronger in the southern part of India.

We have a dealer network of 22 and over 60 touch points throughout India and are continuously increasing their numbers with a plan to make our presence stronger in the southern part of India. We plan to have touch points within a vicinity of about 200 kms from our key projects, thereby ensuring an uptime within 48 hours for our customers’ equipment.

It is always advisable to do maximum localization of products.

With our expansion plans on anvil, India will become our second biggest manufacturing hub after China. Right now, we are catering to SAARC nations from India. Post expansion, LiuGong India would start exporting to Middle East and African countries too. Volatility in the Indian currency is affecting every manufacturer’s margins, and in order to safeguard margins, it is always advisable to do localization of the product to the maximum, and minimum imports.

This year, we introduced two of LuiGong’s made in China bulldozers of 130 hpa and 230 hpa, and bulldozers from Dressta, Poland.

LuiGong has a market share of 45% in the 5-ton loader segment and 20% in the overall loader market. In fact, LuiGong was the first to start the concept of the 5-ton loader in India. We will soon be celebrating 10 years of LuiGong plant in India, where we are manufacturing 2 to 5-ton Wheel Loaders (in which we are number two) and are assembling the 7-ton. We are the first after BEML to manufacture dozers in India.

We have just entered compactors and the 15 and 21-ton excavator market.

In India, about 60% of market demand is for the 21-ton excavator that we have started manufacturing in our Indian facility and by mid 2019 we will achieve localization up to 70%. We have recently cracked a big deal during IMME when we sold a 50-ton excavator. In the near future, our plan is to offer a full range of products from 3.5 to 70 tons.

2020 will be a game changer when everyone is bound to change to BS 1V engines.

LuiGong is a conservative investor and is taking a ‘wait and watch’ approach in the excavator business. The year 2020 will be a game changer when everyone is bound to change to BS 1V engines, which will bring all companies at par with each other, and companies that are ready to shift to BS 1V engines will stay relevant in the market place. We have been dealing with electronic engines for the past 8 years and have substantial experience already. We have JVs with Cummins, Zedder (ZF) and Metso, so, we are ready with the BS 1V engine, but are simply waiting for it to become compulsory for all, so that our machines get the necessary support from the dealers and contractors.

In the near future, we will use our own engines, in fact, we are already using our own engines in our excavators. We are developing engines in association with Cummins with which we have a 50:50 JV. These engines give excellent performance, are very fuel efficient, and are LuiGong patented. Most importantly, they are especially designed for construction equipment to give the necessary torque, unlike other brands that make their engines for commercial vehicles as well.