Speaking to the media after the launch of the first concrete pump made in India, Jochen Gorlich, member of board, Schwing group and chairman of the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary said that world wide production facilities provide good scope for capitalising on the exchange rate fluctuations. Schwing has manufacturing facilities in seven countries apart from Germany where it is headquartered.

The parent company, he said, has drawn up plans to invest Rs 18 crore in the Indian facility in a phased manner and the project will come up at Irrungattukottai Industrial Park near Chennai in the next 18 to 20 months. Presently it is operating out of a leased premises in the city which the company plans to retain for training and service back-up, he added.

Schwing Stetter India would manufacture the complete range of concrete equipments viz. a batching plant to manufacture concrete, a transit mixer to deliver concrete from batching plant to the customer and a concrete pump to place the concrete. The products, according to Anand Sundaresan, executive director, would be of immense help to the construction industry.

He said that the main advantage of setting up such a unit in India was the huge potential that existed in the country. With a low per capita cement consumption and the thrust for infrastructure projects increasing day by day, Schwing group decided to set up a unit in the country. Moreover, the concept of RMC is just catching up in the country. The company plans to achieve a turnover of Rs 100 crore in the first few years of operation.

Marketing and service facilities will initially be set up in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi before spreading to other locations, Sundaresan added. The company has also achieved a 60 per cent level of indiginisation and there was a further scope of reducing the import content by 20 per cent, he said. This will enable the company to bring down the cost further.