Chennai: The current coronavirus pandemic came a big blow to many businesses and civil construction area was one of the most affected. When it comes to construction concreting plays an important role which too took a hit due to the pandemic.
In a conversation with News Today, Ajax Engineering managing director Jagadish Bhat talks about how the company has overcome the pandemic. The company which provides concreting solutions is planning to setup a design center and an additional manufacturing facility in Bengaluru at an overall investment of Rs 100 crore.
Q: Give us some insights into the current industry landscape and about the pace of the industry in India.
A: The demand for construction equipment is picking up for the past 2-3 months and it is expected to accelerate further. The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is a USD 1.4 trillion government investment plan spread over the next five years. This pipeline brings greater focus on and transparency in pushing the projects towards execution and helps continuous monitoring through a dashboard.
Q: How did Ajax cope with the operations during the pandemic?
A: We witnessed disruption to supply chain. The sudden lockdown brought all forms of transportation and logistics to a standstill. Ports were shut and shipping lines levied container detention charges on importers due to such delay. All such costs had to be absorbed. The other challenge we faced was Commodity-led inflation on input costs. Severe disruption led to the erratic steel prices. And last but not least was the impact of costs due to higher overheads with near zero revenues. In spite of this we remained committed to our employees. We ensured that there was no salary cut or retrenchment of any employee during the entire pandemic. We resumed with ‘Work from home’, strengthened and leveraged digital platforms and built safety mechanisms to restart our operations with minimal disruption.
Q: What is the business outlook and plans for 2021?
A: We believe in enhancing customer value in concreting equipment, in delivering cost effective products and complete and reliable solutions, that answer the customers’ needs. We are expanding our manufacturing footprint by undertaking Rs 100 crore investment in anticipation of greater demand for equipment.