Nawa Engineers Upbeat on Growth Prospects

"The new government is taking a series of reform measures to boost infrastructure projects and the industry expects that impact of this will be reflected in time to be seen in FY 2015-16," says Mr. G.N Raju, Managing Director, Nawa Engineers in an interview with Maria R. He is of the view that with the initiatives of the government in road sector, the aggregates crusher manufacturers are happy with their revival and growth plans to cope with the inevitable boom in infrastructure construction projects (freight corridors, industrial corridors, highways, railways, sea port projects, airports, etc) and are also gearing up to regain their lost ground.

How do you find the demand trends of crushing & screening equipment in the wake of government's strong initiative and commitment on Infra development?
Since 2011, large chunks of the economy have been under severe strain due to what is termed by the expert analysts as 'Policy Paralysis' on the part of the then government. The investments into infrastructure construction and mining sector have come down drastically. The equipment demand for quarry & crushing-screening, both for aggregates processing and mineral sizing too has gone down as the economy has slowed down. The new government under the leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi, has been taking steps to break the logjam with a series of initiatives. The core sector ministries have been tasked with reviving the stalled infrastructure projects such as roads, power, ports, coalmines, and telecom by March 2015. For road sector, the PM has set a target of awarding projects by end of March 215 for 8,500 km of highways. The highway sector is the principal source for quarry & crushing-screening equipment as the crushed stone, called as aggregates, is one of the key raw materials for road construction. The highway ministry has already indentified and announced plans to revive in the FY 2014-15 as many as 34 highway projects worth over Rs.26,000 crores (a total stretch of over 4,000 km) by restructuring them from present PPP mode to EPC mode, as private sector investment in the highway sector has had a setback. The quarry & crushing-screening industry believes that the worst is behind it and the recovery is real. The industry is reported to be seeing already some stable recovery and a progressive increase in demand for aggregates processing plant & equipment from 2015 onwards.

What is the impact of revoking of 214 mining licenses on the crushing and screening equipment market?
At the outset, it was shocking to those coalmine owners already operating the opencast mines allotted to them. It has dampened the companies engaged in mine planning & development and mining equipment manufacturers. Fortunately, the aggregates processing equipment companies are not the key players in coal sizing and processing equipment. With the initiatives of the present government in road sector, the aggregates crusher manufacturers are upbeat with their revival and growth plans to cope with the inevitable boom in infrastructure construction projects – freight corridors, industrial corridors, highways, railways, sea port projects, airports, etc.


The good news is that the government has swiftly moved and formulated an e-auction tender processing of all the cancelled allotments as well as new coal blocks. It is reported that the e-auction norms are under finalization, and the government is taking quick action to make these cancelled coal blocks to go into production so as to bridge the fuel shortage of the existing power (thermal), steel and cement industries, the growth of which is critical for the faster economic growth.

What is the core strength of Nawa? What advanced technology and features are incorporated in your product line which not only reduce power consumption but also ensure better productivity and operational efficiency?
NAWA since its inception in 1998 has demonstrated its proven technologies in crushing-screening-material handling-aggregates plants. We have supplied over 800 crushing plants to various infrastructure construction projects and aggregates industry. Our engineering skills combined with manufacturing, infrastructure and quality programs ensure a world-class equipment delivery. Our well-engineered and well-built plants got overwhelming recognition for their high productivity and delivering high quality aggregates meeting the varied specifications of concrete and asphalt mixes for various construction processes. Our secondary/tertiary cone crushers are now fitted with Hydraulic Rotary Feeders (HRF), a high-tech feature developed by us for a uniform crusher-feed. Our cone crushers with HRF have demonstrated to give out increased wear life of manganese, increased throughput capacities and reduced cost per ton of aggregates produced.

Our Duracone SRM series flat-head cone crushers with patented hydrostatic thrust bearing are power savers per ton of aggregates. All our equipment have been designed and developed with emphasis on increased productivity at optimum efficiency levels.

Nawa forged a JV with a company McLanahan Nawa Engineers (P) Ltd last year. How is this JV partnership working and what new dimension has it added to your range of high performance crushing applications?
McLanahan-NAWA offers a wide range of high-performance mineral processing equipment manufactured in India to McLanahan's technology and global standards. They specialize in crushing materials such as petroleum coke, coal, gypsum & limestone and beneficiation equipment for mineral ores. The JV Company has already bagged prestigious orders from Indian customers against global & domestic competition for supply of a crusher equipment package for petroleum coke crushing for an oil refinery major and a 14'x37' rotary scrubber for iron ore beneficiation for a leading integrated steel mill. These equipment are being manufactured indigenously to McLanahan's global standards. McLanahan foresees a great market for its products in Indian mining sector and taking steps to consolidate its presence in India.

NAWA has acquired technical knowhow and global manufacturing rights of DURACONE range of crushers sometimes back. So far, what has the market response been to DURACONE SRM cone crushers?
Duracone SRM is the creation of Louis Johnson (who invented and developed the first all roller bearing cone crusher), after several years of design and field-testing and proven performance in crushing hardest of the hard rocks. NAWA has acquired the technical know how and worldwide manufacturing rights of 'Duracone SRM' cone crushers. With this addition to our product portfolio, NAWA has the full range of high performance cone crushers to process hard stone or mineral ores up to 800 TPH crushing capacity.

We have successfully launched SRM 400 and SRM 500 models and the performance has been found to be far exceeding over conventional flat head cones built with bush bearings. They are energy savers with a lowest kW per ton of aggregates produced.

What is the progress in Nawa's plan to add new products like track mounted plants, concrete batching machinery, cranes, loaders and related construction equipment to its portfolio?
New equipment development process is a continuous process in NAWA. In the last two years, we have successfully developed a variety of high technology products for crushing & screening plants and material handling systems.

Our new products: 1) Hydraulic Radial Stacker 2) Track-Belt 3) Hydraulic Rotary Feeder for Cone-Feed and 4) TRIPLEKS series Horizontal Screens are meant to enhance operational efficiency and productivity in aggregates plants and associated material handling functions. These equipment have already been commercialized successfully and the customers-feedback established that they add value to their enterprise.

We have also firm plans to get into allied construction equipment manufacture and waiting for the market to attain stability.

Economic downturn has put quite a big pressure on the profitability due to stiff competition on one hand, while on the other hand, it also leads to brand substitution. How are you managing this difficult phase while maintaining Nawa's quality standards?
The manufacturing sector as a whole serving the infrastructure development has been under pressure due to economic downturn, especially the roadblocks in construction sector since 2011. We, at NAWA, have taken steps to keep our workshops busy by taking up heavy machine fabrication works for EPC contractors of cement, steel, power and mining sector. Our manufacturing and quality systems are so set that we are able to mend them to deliver made-to-order machines to the exacting standards of these customers. In NAWA, we have set our quality assurance programs that are automatically followed for any heavy machine fabrication to the international standards.

What is your assessment of the business performance of Nawa in 2015?
The quarry & crushing-screening sector suffered since 2011 as the economy has slowed down and it has badly affected the manufacturing companies like us who are centered on infrastructure construction. The performance for FY 2014-15 continues to be under strain. After 3 worst years of down cycle, the industry is seeing a surge in the market starting from 2015 with reform measures to boost infrastructure projects already showing signs of recovery. The industry expects that impact of this will be reflected in time to be seen in FY 2015-16. We have thrived in this difficult period, and along with other players in crushing & screening machinery manufacturing are gearing up to be ready to regain the lost ground.