Page 31 - Construction_Opportunities_Oct_2026

POST BAUMA CONEXPO INDIA
INTERACTION

Have you seen a delay in terms of projects being announced by mining operations, uptime is very, very important. End of the
the government of India? day, the contractor are more worried about the machine and
(GR) The big ticket road construction projects like the NHAI projects how effectively the machine is working and safe. So, the uptime,
which we were all very used to, those were a little less starting from indeed, this is by far the most important criteria for this size
last year, second half itself. Announcements were a bit less. machine because these operations, they run anything between
However, there is a lot of work which is in the interiors. So, we 5 and 7, even 7,000 hours a year. That means they work many,
see a lot of work in the smaller cities and tier 2 cities and rural many hours, three shifts typically. Obviously, the design of the
infrastructure. So, this excavator category continues to thrive. machine is around uptime. So, it’s been built with, enough power,
Only the motor grader is a little down this year because the large enough hydraulic power and cooling systems and so on to make
national highway projects. But the PMGSY type of like the rural sure that it can work those hours without interruption.
roads and those projects are going. And the second thing which is But what is becoming very important is all the condition monitoring
going strong is mining. So, you know power is the continuous need. that we have for that. So, customer value agreements, so what
So, coal production that continues to grow year over year. So, for our dealers do for the customers, so making sure that the
that we see movement to larger size excavators, larger size trucks. maintenance is done in time, that we have the parts to maintain
So, that is why we launched this 355 in this, that is a large it. So, keep the machine going during the operating cycle.
excavator. So, that is where, you know, so mining growing, I would But also, we’re starting to look more and more at condition
say excavator 20 ton size class also growing. Roads right now monitoring off board, right. So, having our teams that look after the
flattish versus last year. But there are projects in the pipeline. So, machines, that understand if the machines have certain alarms,
everybody is expecting this September, October onwards it will that they need proactive care. And this is done by Caterpillar
pick up. in collaboration with the dealers. So, this is becoming the trend
because at some point, the machine, the iron, let’s say, is starting
What are your new product offerings at BAUMA CONEXPO INDIA to have its limits, right? So, at some point, you really need to look
(AG) There is a demand that has been building up on the mining after, minute by minute, how that machine is working, performing.
side. And that is driving all sorts of requirements, there are different
sizes of mines. There are some that, require a much larger product. How have your customers received your CAT Customer Value
The 50 to 55 ton is a bit of a sweet spot, in terms of matching Agreement offer.
with excavators, in terms of the size of the job. So, we brought (AG) It’s very good. I would say that’s one of the like, because, it’s
this product in after we brought in the larger excavators because beyond the iron, products everybody has and especially in retail
this is between, let us say, a large quarry type operation and also market, like, everybody has very similar specs of the machine, and
an entry level mining type. So, typically overburden removal, so it is very limited, that the machine performance can differentiate
everything that prepares a mine for coal mining, that is where itself. So, how can we differentiate? What is happening? We must
the product is really going to be targeted. So, when we talk of turn back to the, what’s happening to the customers. Customer’s

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