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POST BAUMA CONEXPO INDIA
Give us details on your BCP division own, the dealers have their own rental store, very large organized
(GR) Our BCP division remains a very large industry for us. Backhoe rental stores, and we roll in brand new equipment and give it out
loader, India remains the world’s largest backhoe loader market. to customers. So, we have seen an uptick in our rental outflow INTERACTION
In a way it feels like the ration between excavators and backhoe this year. Yes. It’s part of the solution. We have invested in India,
loaders is closing. Because customers are trying to use the right in manufacturing products in India, which is the 321, 322, 324. So,
tool for the job. So, instead of an excavator, instead of a backhoe we are looking, we have capacity, we want to grow the volumes,
loader, they are now using like the small excavator, So, one more industry growth is good for everyone, and that’s what we look
thing is that backhoe loader has the tier 5, stage 5 emission. So, forward to.
their cost as such has gone up a bit.
And if you compare that with the entry-level excavators, they are So, I believe CAT completed 100 years last year? Last year, yeah.
now almost at par. So, that’s driving a certain shift towards the (AG) 50 years in India. 51st years in India. it’s been a long haul in
excavators. I think it’s a trend we’ve seen, I guess, starting 20 years India. Yes, and CAT will move pretty early to, become international,
back, everywhere in the world, So, the backhoes, slowly we’re I think, as of the 50s. Well, of course, there were some very early
starting to see the mini excavators. days when we had the dealerships outside of North America. But
being an American company, not everybody moved out like we
Your feedback on BAUMA CONEXPO INDIA this year did right after the war in the 50s and 60s, where we developed this
(AG) We have a lot of customers who have already come. Like footprint, started to look at where are the growth areas in the world,
mining customers, infra customers, CEM customers. In the first half and started to build manufacturing, to build local knowledge,
of the day, I’ve seen a lot of customers. Also, the show feels pretty to develop teams, even sometimes engineering, or component
big. I was here two years ago. Feels like there’s more than it was development, and so on, in each region.
two years ago. So, I think the fact that the industry is booming, is So, this has been a bit the strategy all along. I think it’s paying
doing great, I think that encourages a lot of the OEM to come and off now because we are present with talent in each of the key
represent, and also customers to come and visit. So feels like it’s markets.
going to be a pretty successful show.
Does CAT have a research division here?
In terms of government policies, what more do you envisage the (AG) Oh, yeah. Actually, big operations here in India. We do, and
government of India should do what we call the condition monitoring, we do have a center. So,
(GR) Well, actually, I think it’s generally been doing well. If you there’s a couple of things. Product development, we do have a
ask me. But generally, the industry has been appreciative of the big engineering center in Chennai that’s looking after, basically,
efforts, especially the construction industry, infrastructure and engineering, design engineering, software engineering, and so
equipment scheme, that’s been in discussions, and the budget on, across the company. So, there are different divisions that take
was money allocated for that, and the budget, we hear that it’s advantage of this. But we also look at maintenance and condition
going to be here sometime very soon. So, this is all very positive. monitoring type practices, which, again, we have teams here
So, we are very much looking forward to that particular scheme that look after the equipment, serial number by serial number,
and how it can increase our footprint here in India as well. to understand is there anything happening with that particular
machine. Does it need proactive care? Does it have, you know,
Is there a funds issue in terms of contractors delaying payments? potential issues coming up and so on? Communicate it back to
(GR) No, I haven’t heard about funds being withheld as such, but the dealer. Exactly, predictive maintenance. So, yes, India has,
as I said, I have heard from every category of contractor that it’s I mean, we have this company called FMC, Fleet Monitoring
tight. The margins are thin. So, there’s a lot of projects, but there Contract. Okay.
are a lot of players now who have entered. So, we can sign up with the customers and our own Caterpillar
So, it’s not like maybe 10 years ago, where there were a few large employees based in Chennai, like you were talking about, We
contractors. Now, large players are also there. They have big book keep monitoring. We’ll monitor it. Every 10 minutes, they’ll get an
values. update on the machine. Every 10 minutes. And they will see all the
They subcontract out a lot of their work, and the subcontractors alert codes, fault codes, preventive maintenance, oil sampling
are also, plenty of them are entering the business. So, it’s making results. And they will be able to provide insights to the customer,
it very competitive, putting the pressure back on their margins, exactly what they should do. Not just like, this is wrong, but what
and one of the big initial investments is on equipment, putting the you should do also they will provide. So, that’s an extreme, like,
pressure back on that as well. value-add, and it helps this whole cost-per-unit thing. All that is
enabled, and all the employees are in India.
So, are you seeing a shift in terms of growth in rental segment? And I’ll just add to that, it’s not just serving for markets in India, right?
(GR) Yes, we are seeing a lot because it’s part of our solutions The R&D, the engineering work that’s being done here in India is
where we talked about, So, one of our customer challenge, we exported to all countries. It becomes a primary hub for us here.
have five customer challenges. So, one of them is cash flow. So, So, it’s that way, like many other companies, we have a very strong
cash flow is a customer challenge universally across these growth R&D and engineering presence here. Yeah, as a matter of fact,
regions, and our solution for that, one of the very big solutions this is the second-largest R&D center of Caterpillar. In India, what
is rental. Because we are the only manufacturer who has their we have in Chennai is the second-largest R&D center.

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