Haulotte: Indian access market just beginning

The Indian powered access market has huge potential for growth according to Haulotte Group CEO Alexandre Saubot, but he believes it will be a long process that will be driven chiefly by improving safety standards.

Speaking at the bC India exhibition in Mumbai, Mr Saubot said, “It’s the beginning of the market. There are only a few machines, but people are beginning to do business.”

Elaborating on the barriers to growth, he added, “In India the problem is import duties and price, so the used machine market is important. Last year the used machine market was bigger than the new market in unit terms.”

Mr Saubot said he believed an improvement in the culture of safety would be a key driver for greater adoption of powered access equipment over traditional methods of working at height. However, at present there are no legislative drivers in place.

“So far there is nothing in that area. It is up to the people active in the market to work with the administration on safety and the benefits of the products. We are at the beginning for that, but our experience in Brazil for example is that it can happen fast,” he said.

But despite these barriers, he remained upbeat about India’s market potential. “There is so much to be done in this country. There is definitely huge potential, but there are clearly barriers to growth. It will be a long-term process. We have a small but dedicated team for India and I am confident things will happen.

“You have to drive growth through safety here. With the low labour rates it is difficult to talk about cost savings,” he concluded.