Tata Hitachi mulls indigenisation to up margins, cut imports

Tata Hitachi has a market share of about 37 per cent. It hopes to increase this to about 42 per cent over the next three years by launching newer models, Sinha said.

The excavator market in the country is about 15,000 machines in a year. It grew at the rate of 30 per cent in the past. However, the market is decelerating this year with the

slowdown of overall economy, he said.

On competition from abroad, Sinha said though Tata Hitachi is number one player in the Indian excavator market, the leadership is under tremendous attack owing to Chinese players.

"Chinese players are offering prices which are 25 per cent lower than some of the manufacturers. As matter of fact some of the Chinese machine manufacturers have started manufacturing in India. But with new technologies we expect the market share will go up to 42 per cent in the next three years," Sinha said.