Chinese players have gained ground by offering cheaper machines and easier financing, but Tata Hitachi’s long-standing relationships with customers and dealers would help it compete in the market, Singh said in an interview with Business Standard.
Tata Hitachi manufactures a wide range of excavators, including mini and mining excavators, as well as loaders and other construction equipment. The broader Indian market also features Chinese manufacturers such as Sany, XCMG, LiuGong, and Zoomlion, which produce machinery across excavators, loaders, cranes, and other equipment. Sany, for instance, entered India in 2002, and has since expanded its local manufacturing capabilities and dealer network.
Singh said Tata Hitachi’s dealer network was an important defence against Chinese manufacturers. Around 90 per cent of the company’s sales are made through dealers, with about 230 outlets supporting customers. He said relationships with dealers and customers take years to develop and cannot be replicated simply by offering a cheaper machine. “Since the market is growing, we are able to survive, and we are also growing… We are very confident that we will be able to manage them (Chinese competitors) because the dealership network is not built overnight. Relationships are not built overnight,” he noted.
Chinese manufacturers, nevertheless, have made inroads among customers who are particularly sensitive to the upfront cost of equipment. Singh said first-time buyers in road construction often struggle to obtain loans from banks and turn to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Chinese manufacturers used lower prices and extended credit to enter this customer segment.
“But over a period of time, customers have realised that there is no resale price… The failure rate of their machines, on average, is higher,” he explained.
In the last decade, Tata Hitachi has seen the impact of Chinese competition particularly clearly in mining excavators. Singh said Tata Hitachi’s market share in this segment was about 50 per cent roughly a decade ago, before falling to 20 per cent as Chinese manufacturers entered. It has since recovered to around 35 per cent. This recovery of market share has come at a time when the number of manufacturers in the segment has also risen from four to about eight.
Singh said customers eventually assess construction equipment on factors beyond the initial purchase price. Machine durability, reliability, service support, and resale value become important because contractors and mining companies depend on the equipment to run their businesses. A lower purchase price, therefore, does not necessarily translate into a lower cost over the machine’s operating life.
The MD, meanwhile, mentioned that Tata Hitachi is targeting average revenue growth of 10 per cent a year over the next five years. He put the company’s current annual revenue at around ₹5,600 crore. Singh expects infrastructure activity to support this growth, particularly as state governments increase spending.
He said the central government’s capital expenditure (capex) has risen to ₹12.2 trillion this year, while state capex is around ₹11.2 trillion. The MD identified Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat among the states seeing strong infrastructure development.
The construction-equipment industry, which had grown at around 10 per cent annually until financial year 2024-25 (FY25), slowed in FY26, Singh said. Road construction, an important demand driver for Tata Hitachi, fell to 23 km a day in FY26 from 34 km a day in FY25. He expects road construction to pick up in the second half (H2) of FY27 as government funding increases.
Singh also expects demand from urban development, industrial projects, railways, and irrigation to support the market. State-led investment is particularly important because several states are undertaking urban and industrial development projects, while the Centre’s multimodal connectivity projects are bringing together road, rail, and port infrastructure.
However, higher logistics and currency costs are putting pressure on the company. Singh said the West Asia conflict has increased logistics costs and affected Tata Hitachi through the depreciation of the rupee. The impact is visible both in the cost of bringing parts into India and in exports to the Middle East and Africa.
Tata Hitachi currently exports about 600 machines a year to the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia, accounting for around 7-8 per cent of its annual turnover. Singh said the company could raise exports to around 10 per cent of turnover over the next five years if it builds machines for developed countries.
India’s earthmoving equipment sales stood at 97,236 units in FY26, down 2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), according to the Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (ICEMA). Excavators generally account for about 35 per cent of the total earthmoving equipment sales in India.
