The Indian construction equipment industry has been charting an ambitious growth course, but sustaining that momentum will depend on more than just rising demand. For Sany India’s Kapil Jain, the answers lie in scale, skill-building, and a cultural shift towards accountability in both manufacturing and consumption.
Speaking at Autocar Professional’s Construction Equipment Inner Circle, a CXO Roundtable hosted by ZF Group, Jain–Head of Key Account Business and Business unit Head, Access Business–drew on Sany’s own experience of setting up shop in India to make a larger case for how the sector can evolve.
Jain said that global peers offered both inspiration and cautionary tales. European and Japanese majors, he observed, struggled to sustain operations in India, weighed down by the market’s sensitivity to costs and its unique operating conditions.
By contrast, Chinese companies managed to scale rapidly and successfully, providing India with valuable takeaways. “We should take them as an example. Our population size, our growth trajectory, it is only a matter of time before India faces the same inflection point. What happened there will happen here as well,” he said.
Sany itself has localised major components for excavators, cranes and piling machines, Jain noted, but acknowledged that scale remains a constraint. “Until you achieve economies of scale, manufacturing many parts is not feasible. Talent availability and export readiness also matter. We have succeeded with some export-oriented products, but we all get influenced by the geopolitical uncertainty,” he said.
Sany India is a subsidiary of China’s Sany Group. It is among the fastest-growing players in the country’s construction equipment market. The company manufactures and markets a wide range of machines including excavators, cranes, piling rigs, and wind, port and road machinery, catering to both infrastructure and mining projects.
Building Skills, Not Just Machines
For Jain, India’s construction equipment industry’s next leap will depend as much on skills as on machines. “The opportunity is to develop teams within companies and within the country, and to support institutions that enhance skill levels. That’s how we can compete globally and produce quality products,” he said.
He pointed to encouraging signs: a growing supplier base that is steadily moving up the technology curve. “Earlier we had no local suppliers. Today, we do. As demand grows, these component manufacturers will gain the strength to invest further in technology. This cycle will give our industry momentum,” he said.
Navigating Global Disruptions
Asked about coping with volatility in global markets, Jain argued that Indian manufacturers must focus on what is within their control. Vendor development is one pillar. “We must take our vendor base deeper into tier-two and tier-three cities and build vertical integration. Many corporations already run vendor-development programmes, and that is the way forward,” he said.
Equally critical is indigenising products for Indian applications. “Imported products may not serve Indian conditions. An Indian product manager working with application engineers and R&D can create solutions like the way backhoe loaders worked in India, or the way small cars shaped our auto market. Such localisation, combined with technology, can cut development cycles and create products that fit our needs, and allow us to deal with external challenges,” he said.
Sustainability Needs Buyers
Turning to sustainability, Jain struck a pragmatic tone. Efficiency improvements, he said, can make an immediate difference. “Machines must become more efficient, and operators and maintenance teams need better training to optimise usage and minimise waste. That’s the first step towards sustainability,” he said.
On the shift to electric and battery-powered machines, he emphasised readiness rather than rhetoric. “OEMs must be solution-oriented and prepared with the right products when the market is ready. Most manufacturers already have products on display. But the real test is adoption,” he said.
Here, Jain called out a gap between intent and action. “Many corporates publicly commit to replacing part of their fleet with cleaner machines. But when it comes to buying, the hesitation is there because of higher costs. If the large buyers don’t take the lead, how can OEMs respond? We have solutions, but they must be met with real demand,” he said.
He argued that government regulation will be essential to bridge this gap, not just in supporting manufacturers but in nudging end-users. “If the government insists that corporates adopt cleaner machines, it will create the pull for OEMs to supply at scale. Without that, the cycle doesn’t start,” Jain said.
The construction equipment industry sold 140,191 units in FY25, registering a modest 3% year-on-year growth. This was a sharp slowdown compared with the robust 26% growth posted in both FY24 and FY23, and followed an 8% contraction in FY22. Looking ahead, the industry has set itself an ambitious target of reaching 250,000 units annually by 2030, translating into a $25-billion market.