As mining becomes intense, the demand for mechanization and highly productive, safe, efficient and cost effective

machinery will increase, writes Shyamal Asangi in this report

For the past several years the mining sector has been growing at the rate of 3% to 4% annually. Moreover, the new mining policy of Government of India is expected to give a further boost to the mining sector and the government is expecting to increase share of the mining sector in the GDP, which currently accounts for 2.8%. Naturally, growth in the mining sector translates into an exponential growth for the Indian mining equipment industry. Currently, the market size of mining equipment in the country is estimated to be over Rs 10,000 crore. This industry is highly competitive with over 100 companies comprising of public (nearly 70%) and private sector companies (about 30% including joint ventures and closely held companies). Some of the players in the mining equipment industry include Volvo, Liebherr, Caterpillar, Sandvik, Terex, Bomag, Hyundai, Atlas Copco, Kobelco, Daewoo, Joy Mining, John Deere, Poclain, Tega, JCB, and Bitelli. Indian

mining sector India is a mineral rich country and produces about 89 minerals. However, mining activity is majorly in coal, around 80%. The other minerals and metals mined include zinc, gold, lead, copper, iron, bauxite and uranium. Majority of the countrys mines (292 in public sector and 2,326 in private sector) are located in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. There are approximately 20,000 known mineral deposits in the country. In the year 2008 09 the production from these mines was Rs113700 crore amounting to approximately 2.8% of the countrys GDP. The mining sector is extremely labor intensive and therefore generates large employment with over 2 million people working in the sector.
Indian mining equipment industry The government of India is now focusing on the growth of this key sector. Hence mechanized mining has become very popular as it is efficient and cost effective. This has come as encouragement to the mining equipment sector and several companies have introduced technologically advanced, large size and efficient mining equipment in India. Majority of the companies design and manufacture mining equipment in-house while some companies market mining equipment from international players. Apart from this, several Indian companies have also entered into collaborations and agreements with international companies to enable them to sell their products in India. Key players The domestic players in the mining equipment industry include both the public and private sector companies manufacturing underground and surface mining equipment. However, several of the foreign companies have also set up operations in India to take a share of the fast growing mining sector pie. The important international and local players in this sector include Hyundai, Hitachi, Daewoo, Komatsu, John Deere, Wrigten, Tega, Atlas Copco, Liebherr, Joy Mining Machinery, Terex, Bucyrus Erie, DBT, Volvo, Caterpillar, Sandvik, Telcon, Bomag, Kobelco, Poclain, Dozco, JCB, and Bitelli. Buoyed by the growth in the mining sector these companies are also expanding their capacities. For example Dozco and Telcon are planning/have already added capacities to their existing production plans to manufacture sophisticated mining equipment for the Indian mining industry. Products offerings With Indian government keen to develop the countrys mining sector, mining equipment manufacturing companies offer products at par with international standards. Komatsu manufactures dump trucks and bulldozers while companies like Poclain, Telcon, and Kobelco are into the manufacturing of hydraulic equipment. Bittelli and Dozco design and produce earthmoving machinery and Bomag sells landfill equipment with Tega introducing hydrocyclones, water-only-cyclones and radial systems in the country. Liebherr launched diesel electric mining trucks and Volvos trucks are claimed to be sturdy workhorses. Sandwik offers machines for digging holes, Caterpillar offers Computer Aided Earthmoving System and Terex manufactures loaders. Atlas Copcos mining equipment also includes drilling rigs. Potential in coal and steel mining There is a huge potential in the Indian mining equipment manufacturing sector as the mining sector has become extremely dynamic. Coal mining, which covers around 80% of the mining activity, is slated to grow at a furious pace as the power demand is expected to go up tremendously. The government is planning to double the power production that in turn will increase the demand for coal and boost coal mining. Also, the surface coal mining is nearing saturation and

the mining companies are looking at underground mining for which they will need sophisticated and highly technical equipment. The consumption of steel in the country is low compared to the more mature economies. The countrys steel capacity is over 100 million tonnes and a ton of steel requires around 1.8 tonnes of iron ore generating a huge demand for iron ore mining and the equipment needed for that. Besides with a growing economy there is always a demand for all types of metals and minerals