Crawler cranes are equipment of choice in metro projects
Kobelco is one of the major manufacturers of crawler cranes in the world. Raman Joshi, Vice President, Kobelco Cranes India, elaborates on the company?s outlook on the industry.

Market outlook: Looking at the market during the period April-December 2016, there is a constant increase in the activity whether it is shipment of cranes or order intake. In general, it is a positive trend. Infrastructure is expanding rapidly in the country. Currently, we see demand in the metro projects in Lucknow, Nagpur etc, where crawler cranes are the equipment of choice. Much of the growth is coming from metros and highways.

On BAUMA: I believe that the show is here to stay. Over the past eight years, it has gained momentum, the location this time is better than the previous one. I like this platform where one can meet people, show the products, look at competition and give one a pulse of the industry and the market.

Impact of policy initiatives: Our business is really tied to the government policies and our clientele does not deal with the parallel economy unlike other sectors. As such, demonetisation will not have any impact. The monetary policy is a pain that everybody has to go through. It is a bitter pill till such time things start move again. I am curious as to how GST is rolled out and then let us watch what the new budget has to offer.

Rental market: More than 90 per cent of our cranes are bought by rental companies.