CHETRA Strengthening its Position in India

CHETRA is very ambitious in establishing its strong presence in India which is one of the world's focussed markets today. It is one of the trading units of "Machinery & Industrial Group N.V" [M&IG]- the largest Russian international manufacturer of machineries & equipments, touching new milestones year after year, said Mr. Prathap Chandran, General Manager, CHETRA Machinery India Pvt. Ltd., in an interview with S.K.Khanna.

Tell us about CHETRA Machinery India, its product range, application areas and the response so far to these equipments?
CHETRA Machinery India Pvt. Ltd., established in 2008 for promoting the CHETRA brand industrial products in India and it is one of the trading units of "Machinery & Industrial Group N.V" [M&IG]- the largest Russian international manufacturer of machineries & equipments."M&IG" started its business association with India in 2004. As of now, more than 250 nos of CHETRA Pipe layers and Dozers are working in various sites around India. Today, CHETRA enjoys 30% market share of pipe layers in the country. With this great success, Chetra now offers a wide range of international standard machines like Dozers, Pipe layers, Excavator, Wheel Loader, Wheel Dozer, Skid steer loader, Track shifter and various types of Pipeline repair equipments in India. Advanced Russian Technology, Reliability and Affordability are some of the USP of CHETRA products.

Products Offered in India are Crane Pipe Layer, Crawler Dozer, Wheel Dozer, Wheel Loader, Excavator, Skid Steer Loader, Track Shifter, and Pipeline Repair Equipments.

Name some of your important clientele and also a word about Chetra world-class service solutions and marketing network.
Since CHETRA Dozers and Pipe layers undergo very low level of unexpected failures, the field service requirements are very low. Presently, our machines in India are serviced by 3 service managers from our company supported by 3 business agents located in Chennai and Mumbai. Spare parts imported from our Russian unit directly to customers on case to case basis.

A few of the Indian customers using of CHETRA Pipelayers and Dozers in India are, KSS Kastroy India Ltd., Reliance Industry Ltd., Punj Lloyd Ltd., Essar Project India Ltd., Corrtech International Ltd., Jaihind Projects Ltd., Coal India Ltd, Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, Neyveli Ligntite corporation etc.

How do you see the Indian market for your products? What is the business outlook of Chetra in the next two years?
We are quite optimistic about strengthening our market presence in India with the introduction of new products like Wheel loader, Wheel dozers, Excavators, Skid steer, Loaders and Small range dozers. This is apart from our regular products like Pipe layers and dozers. We will be having strong Sales and Service team in every key city of India in next 2 years time. We will also increase our dealership network in many states in the mean time.

In the near future we will set up a spare parts warehouse in India, which will be the centralized parts supply unit for Indian customers and we expect that this initiative will further smoothen the availability of parts for our Indian Customers.

Our target is to become market leader in Pipe layer and Dozers in India. We would also like to keep our proper representation in Institutional and Unorganized sectors of the industry.

Are you considering to set up a manufacturing unit in the country or any other expansion plan?
We are looking forward to set up an assembly unit for Pipelayers and Dozers in India along with a parts warehouse. This will be our first level of investment in India and we also have some other expansion plans for our other products series.

Search is now on for a suitable site for the plant, which is likely to be finalized and start its development by the first half of 2011. The choice of the location has narrowed down to the vicinity of Chennai, which not only offers a reliable eco-system for the production of CHETRA's productline but also provides a good port facility for export needs.

Please apprise us about MIG Group of companies, its Brands, manufacturing units, organizational milestone achieved so far.
Though the company [M&IG] was incorporated in 2008, it traces its history back to 1996 when its founder, Mikhail Bolotin took control of JSC Cheboksary industrial tractor plant (later renamed as JSC Promtractor) by forming "CONCERN TRACTOR PLANTS." The company is presently registered in Holland and is listed at Frankfurt International Exchange.

Today "Machinery & Industrial Group N.V" is the largest Russian international manufacturer of earthmoving machinery. By now "M&IG N.V" is having 17 manufacturing units across Russia and Europe and 4 tractor scientific research institutes, 5 trading Units and 1 service unit. M&IG has more than 30,000 employees. Each unit contributes their respective strengths and know-how to the M&IG. Today, "M&IG" is manufacturing and trading more than 40 types of the heavy crawler machinery for oil and gas industry, mining industry, road building and construction industry, also for Railways. Diversified production portfolio of the enterprise attracts broad customer base, which is being promoted by five special trading-service companies operates for more than 40 countries worldwide and through its extensive dealer network of around 300 companies.

S.No.	Name	Location	Company Profile & Products
1	Promtractor JSC	Cheboksary, Russia	Promtractor JSC is the third in the world and the largest in Russia and in the CIS, in manufacturing of heavy ripper-dozers and pipelaying equipment.
2	Onega Tractor Plant Ltd	Petrozavodsk, Russia	Manufactures tracked tractors and vehicles for arctic conditions, trailers, forestry machinery and garden tools.
3	Kraslesmash JSC	Krasnoyarsk, Russia	Kraslesmash JSC specialize in the development and manufacture of equipments for the forest & wood industry.
4	Silvatec Skovmaskiner A/S	Farso,Denmark	Silvatec manufactures harvesters and harvesting heads, self-propelled chippers and chart-mounted chippers for the forest industry since 1984.
5	Kurganmashzavod JSC	Kurgan, Russia	JSC "Kurganmashzavod" is the largest enterprise of the Kurgan region & one of the leaders of the Russian military industrial complex. It is the only one plant in Russia producing infantry fighting vehicles adopted by the armies of 30 countries.
6	Lipetsk Tractor Plant JSC	Lipetsk, Russia	JSC"Lipetsk Tractor Plant" is one of the largest manufacturers of tractors in Russia. The Plant has produced more than 1.5 million tractors by 2009. JSC Lipetsk Tractor manufactures tractors for small and large farming for agricultural businesses in Russia.
7	Volgograd machine-building company VGTZ JSC	Volgograd, Russia	Manufacturer of Russian infantry fighting vehicle (BMP) and airborne combat vehicle (BMD).
8	Volgograd Tractor Plant JSC	Volgograd, Russia	Volgograd Tractor Plant manufactures various types of AgricultureTractors, Crawler Machineries.
9	Krasnoyarsk Combine Harvester Works JSC	Krasnoyarsk, Russia	Krasnoyarsk Combine Harvester Works JSC is into manufacturing of Harvesting & forestry machines.
10	Vladimir Motor-Tractor Works JSC	Vladimir, Russia	The company is engaged in to the Design and manufacture of tractors and diesel engines.
11	Altai Motor Plant JSC	Altai, Russia	Altai Motor plant manufactures Tractors and engines for agriculture industry.
12	Cheboksary Aggregate works	Cheboksary, Russia	Cheboksary Aggregate works manufactures undercarriage parts for industrial, agricultural and skidding tracked equipment. It also makes casting for railway equipments.
13	Luitpoldhuette AG	Amberg, Germany	Luitpoldhütte AG is a foundry operating worldwide and producing sophisticated castings for agricultural machinery, the truck and off-highway industry, and refrigeration equipment.
14	Vogel&Noot Landmaschinen GmbH & Co	Wartberg/Mürztal, Germany	Vogel & Noot has established establishment in 1872 & today, Vogel&Noot is the largest manufacturer of ploughs in the EU.
15	Zauralsky foundry Ltd.	Zauralsky, Russia	Makes Castings for the group companies.
16	Promtractor – Promlit LLC	Cheboksary, Russia	Promtractor-Promlit LLC established in 1977, is one of the leading companies of Division of railway casting and car building of Machinery & Industrial Group N.V.
17	Promtractor-Wagon CJSC	Cheboksary, Russia	Railway equipment is developed at Promtractor-Wagon CJSC.

Trade Names of M&IG N.V Products: Since the company now comes under M&IG were operated on self- identity in earlier days, the products from the respective plants were sold in their own trade names in the past. In order to create a generally recognizable common brand and for facilitating an access to the home and international markets, M&IG has developed their own trademark CHETRA. During 2002 CHETRA trade name is registered for all its Industrial products. AGROMASH was retained as the trade name used for its all type of Agricultural Machines.

CHETRA – For all industrial off-road machines

AGROMASH – For all agricultural machines

What is your overview of the global construction equipment market? Is it on a recovery path after two year of slowdown?
The global market has witnessed a growth after two years of slowdown. We have even seen good level of growth in Russia as well. Indian market is also gained its growth and we started getting fair responses and are quite optimistic about our long-term future in India.