Escorts may push products

Engineering conglomerate Escorts plans to increase product offering in the construction equipment space through joint ventures and technical collaborations besides in-house development to cover 90% of market in two years, a top official said. “We are working on a number of products and aim to increase the contribution of the vertical to 18-19% to the group’s overall turnover in the next couple of years,” said Ajay Mandahr, chief executive officer at Escorts Construction Equipment (ECE). The company currently accounts for about 14% of the group’s turnover and its products cover 57% of the market for construction equipment. It plans to roll out more products in material handling and earth-moving space to increase its market play to 90% even as the market for construction equipment is looking up after several years of slowdown on the back of the government’s infrastructure push, Mandahr said. To this end, ECE is exploring alliances. “We are open to joint ventures and technical collaborations to enter new segments,” Mandahr said. He said ECE is already working with a European company towards developing a new platform for construction equipment, but declined to share details. With the government funnelling investments into infrastructure projects, Mandahr expects demand for construction equipment to grow 10-15% over the next couple of years.