Mahindra To Set Up New Plant for Farm Equipment

Aditya Kondejkar

Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M), market leader in the Indian tractor industry, is betting on farm equipment because of increasing demand. The decision is greatly influenced by the healthy agricultural output, record sales for tractors and reverse migration since last year.

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PSR Analysis: The company is trying to enter the untapped farm mechanization segment in the country. According to Mr. Hemant Sikka (President Farm Equipment Sector Mahindra) this market has very high potential as India has only 1% share of the global farm equipment market vs. 10% of the global tractor market. 

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Uralmash Sets Deal of US$ 322 Million with India

Uralmash (a subsidiary of UZTM-Kartex) has signed its largest deal in the last 30 years. UZTM-Kartex and Coal India Ltd Binay Dayal have signed a contract totaling US$ 322 million for walking excavators, according to the company.

Under the contract, the Uralmash plant will deliver five electric-powered walking excavators of increased power – ESH24.95 and will perform assembly of the equipment on the customer’s site. The OEM also will service machines for 11 years.

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PSR Analysis: ESH24.95 is an electric powered excavator with 24 cubic meter bucket and 95-meter jib. UZTM Kartex also makes diesel machines. Recently it has launched excavator with Cummins QSK-91 engine. PSR

Maxim Sakov is Market Consultant – Russia Operations for Power Systems Research

India Government Announces Scrappage Policy

Aditya Kondejkar

The central government in mid-April announced its long-awaited vehicle scrappage policy. Under the new policy, in case of failure to get a fitness certificate, commercial vehicles will be de-registered after 15 years. Private vehicles will be de-registered after 20 years if found unfit or in case of a failure to renew registration certificates

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There are approximately 50 lakh vehicles in India that are older than 20 years, approximately 35 lakh vehicles older than 15 years, and approximately 15 lakh older than 15 years without renewed fitness certificate.

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Semiconductor Shortage Restricts Growth of Indian Auto Industry

Aditya Kondejkar

As the industry is coming out from the COVID impact, its growth is hurt by a shortage of semiconductors. Many OEMs have revised the production plans downward due to this shortage. We anticipate the shortage of semiconductors will exist for the next 4-5 months. Though it will hamper monthly production, it will have only a moderate impact on the total year’s production. But If the chip shortage lasts, production cuts could reduce the inventory of vehicles for sale in India and overseas markets.

The issue started in the Q2 2020. Due to COVID-19, auto OEMs worldwide drastically reduced their production and component orders. Concurrently, chipmakers were improving the supply chain, which had been disrupted by COVID-19. They witnessed a spurt in orders from electronics companies for items such as phones, laptops, gaming console makers and witnessed a spike in sales volume during the pandemic caused by changing work and school patterns.

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Union Budget 2021 Misses Mark for Autos

Aditya Kondejkar

The Union Budget 2021 is very important since it comes during an unprecedented pandemic. The most significant pain points of the economy are the lack of demand and liquidity. The shrinking market’s impact and the weak demand is evident after the Economic Survey said that the country would experience a current account surplus for the first time in 17 years.

The automotive industry is the key stakeholder of the country’s economy. It suffered extensive sluggishness in the past 10-12 quarters after introducing GST, the new safety norms, insurance regulations, axle, and emission norms. These led to a hefty increase in purchase costs. The industry was waiting for direct announcements to reduce purchase cost and improve customer sentiment

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Truck News: Ask The Expert

Chris Fisher
Chris Fisher

What changes do you see in the PSR Truck Production Index in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter of 2020?

Overall, we are seeing stronger momentum for commercial truck orders and sales which bode well for production in Q1 2021.

Supply chain issues will impact short term production as companies are still having difficulty with staffing numbers and various virus protocols that disrupt production. These problems are expected to continue throughout at least the first half of the year.

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Semiconductor Shortage Forces Automobile Production Cuts

Aditya Kondejkar

Officials at Volkswagen, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota and Nissan all say they have been hit by the shortage and have been forced to delay production of some models in order to keep other factories running.

A widening global shortage of semiconductors for auto parts is forcing major auto companies to halt or slow vehicle production just as they were recovering from pandemic-related factory shutdowns.

“This is absolutely an industry issue,” Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said in an email. “We are evaluating the supply constraint of semiconductors and developing countermeasures to minimize the impact to production.”

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Kia Motors Targets Growth in Rural Markets

Aditya Kondejkar

Kia Motors is expanding its network and targets to reach 300 touchpoints by the end of the year. Further, the company will now focus on expansion in tier-IV and upcountry markets, which will further penetrate the Indian market.

The company is identifying the nerves of Indian customers. It has rightly understood that one of the critical factors in purchasing a car is consumers’ proximity to the brand. Hence, even before the first product (Seltos) launch in the market, it had a wide-spread network in 160 cities with 265 touchpoints.

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Daimler India Adopts Aggressive Dealer Strategy

Daimler India, which recently set up 10 new touchpoints, plans to have at least 350 dealerships across India in the next two years as it looks to deepen market penetration.

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In September, DICV announced plans to grow its BharatBenz dealer network by 10%, exceeding 250 outlets by the end of 2020. With the opening of these new touchpoints, the company moves a step closer to cutting the distance between dealerships from 160 km to 120 km. The company is expanding strategically. The touchpoints are located on leading national and state highways, improving DICV’s golden quadrilateral coverage.

Along with increasing domestic reach, the company is focusing on the export market. Post announcement of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the company plans to invest in the country. The new investment could be used to increase the localization levels of components to avail the PLI. Furthermore, India has moved to BS-VI norms (equivalent euro 6 norms), it will be relatively easier for the company to cater to domestic as well as an export market with the same engines (with few moderations).   PSR

Aditya Kondejkar is Research Analyst – South Asia Operations – for Power Systems Research

Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme Might Draw Investors

Aditya Kondejkar

The Union Cabinet has approved an expansion of the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to include 10 more labor-intensive industry segments. The PLI outlay for automobiles and auto components is the highest at Rs 57,042 crore over five years, roughly Rs 10,000 crore a year.    

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