Report: Joshua David Luther; Photography: Mohd. Nasir
Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje along with
Lord Bamford, Chairman, JCB Group inaugurated two new manufacturing facilities
in Jaipur on November 14, 2014. The new facilities in Jaipur are JCB’s fourth
and fifth plants in India and is their single largest manufacturing footprint
in India. The factory space covers an area of 1 million sq. feet in a 115 acre
campus. The inauguration ceremony was attended by many government dignitaries
along with Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for Information and
Broadcasting, C. S Rajan, Chief Secretary of Rajasthan, Graeme Macdonald, Group
CEO of JCB and Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO, JCB India.
JCB has been present in India since 1979 and this once
small family business now employees over 5000 people across the country with
thousands more in the supply chain. The plans for investing in two new
facilities came in 2012 when the economy was in a slump. The two new facilities
in Rajasthan have come up in record time with the active participation and help
of the Rajasthan Government. The facility is located 35 km from Jaipur city and
currently employs 160 people. JCB top management estimate the plant will be
operating at full scale in the next four to five years and will employ a total
of 1000 employees apart from the indirect jobs created on a ratio of one is to
seven. Currently the plants at Jaipur are catering to the fabrication
requirements of the Ballabgarh facility and by next year the production of
telescopic handlers and skid steer loaders will begin. The Jaipur facilities
will also provide an additional backhoe loader capacity from 2015. Lord
Bamford, stated that Rajasthan is a big market for backhoe loaders and their
current expansion plans are in this state itself.
At present JCB is exporting 20 pc of its total volumes
from India and have invested Rs. 500 crores in the facilities at Jaipur. The
investments that JCB has made in India since their start in the country in 1979
have been to the tune of 250 million Pounds (Rs 2416 crore approx.) excluding
the investments made in Jaipur. The three other manufacturing facilities
include the world’s largest backhoe loader manufacturing factory and the their
diesel ecoMAX engine manufacturing facility located at Ballabgarh near Delhi
and two factories in Pune for manufacturing fabrications and components which
majorly contribute to the company’s exports from India. These plants also
manufacture JCB’s heavy equipment which includes their large excavators,
wheeled loading shovels and compaction equipment. JCB is the market leader for
construction equipment manufacturing in India and operates from a 60 dealer –
600 outlet network in India. JCB has 11 manufacturing facilities in UK, 5 in
India with others in Brazil, China and North America. The facilities in India
manufacture 25 different products in seven product lines like backhoe loaders,
wheeled loading shovels, tracked excavators, vibratory compactors,
telehandlers, skid steer loaders and pick & carry cranes.