Schwing Stetter in expansion mode

Looking to close the year with a turnover of Rs 1,500 cr, the subsidiary of the $1 billion Germany-based Schwing GmbH, has chalked out plans for inorganic growth next year to help it transition from small to a large enterprise.

It closed the calendar year ending 2016 with a turnover of Rs 1,130 crore. Except for a flat growth between 2012 and 2015, it has been growing 30 per cent plus year on year. Schwing Stetter is expecting to post 33 per cent in 2017-18, a growth percentage it recorded in 2016-17 as well, Anand Sundaresan, VC-MD, Schwing Stetter India (P) Ltd said here.

The company’s fifth factory, to be operational by month-end, will give it temporary relief to some of its expansion activities. It has plans to invest Rs 100 crore in a greenfield project, which it would “ideally” look to set up in TN. But Maharashtra too is on Schwing’s radar and within five years, the investments would be around Rs 300 crore. Currently, the four factories produce 8,000 units annually, he said, noting that the company is betting on new products to drive its ‘go to market’ strategy. As many as 16 new products, including stationary concrete pump, paver, plastering pump and tower crane, form its portfolio.

These products would be used in projects aligned to the government’s vision of upgrading rural infrastructure, Swachh Bharat mission, metro and high-speed rail, expressways and Urban infrastructure. The construction equipment industry, currently valued at $ 4.2 billion, is expected to reach $7 billion by 2020. The company is also part of the Chinese XCMG group, with whom it drives its non-concrete business, Sundaresan said.

Expecting 10 per cent of its business to come from exports, VG Sakthikumar, MD, Schwing Stetter Sales and Services (P) Ltd, said, largely, 90 per cent of its products are indigenised. Unlike competition, Schwing dealt with customers directly and not through dealer networks. On the people front too, 400 of its 600 employees had completed a decade, he added.