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Whenever requirement arises for new equipment, our first preference would be JLG, says Bharath RA, Business Head, Swastik Corporation.

Could you elaborate on Swastik Corporation and its core business activities? Which industry segments do you cater to and who are your major customers?
Swastik Corporation is a leading equipment rental company for the past 10 years, based out of Chennai with branches/operations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad. Our core focus is into rental of aerial work platforms - boom lifts, scissor lifts (both electrical and diesel operated); aluminium scaffolding towers and other equipment such as telehandlers, lighting towers, self loading transit mixers etc.

What are the major services you provide to your customers?
We offer short term and long term rental services of AWPs and aluminium scaffolds. We also sell aluminium scaffolds.

Could you give us an overview of your business with JLG?
As much as 70 per cent of our fleet of AWPs is JLG - both used and new machines together. We work very closely with JLG and their dealer TVS in the market to offer comprehensive solutions to the customers. We are JLG?s rental partners.

Which JLG machines do you own and how many units do you have?
We have all JLG AWP models in our fleet, right from their single man lifts, boom lifts - 45 ft to 86 ft, scissor lifts - 19 ft to 40 ft. Overall, we own about 95 JLG machines.

Why did you choose JLG equipment? How did this help to improve and grow your business over the years?
We strongly believe in the quality of JLG equipment and their prompt service. For a rental company like us, immediate attention to the breakdown calls is very important to serve our customers on time. Generally, it is within few hours of breakdown, our service team and JLG?s dealer TVS? service teams jointly attend to the breakdown and make the equipment ready. This is a good support for us to reduce the downtime of our equipment.

What is the current demand level of AWPs?
The demand for AWPs in India is on the rise. The awareness among the users are tremendously increasing. But this is only the start and I think, we have a long way to go.

Will you be adding more JLG equipment in future?
This year, we have added a few JLG boom lifts and scissor lifts to our fleet. Whenever requirement arises for new equipment, our first preference would be JLG. Of course, we will add few more next year too.

What is the trend this year? How do you look at the short term trend?
Business trend this year in South India is more towards long term rentals and contract for maintenance work in the running plants. Major projects are yet to start, hence the demand is little less in the new project constructions.