JCB expands footprint with 2 new plants in Jaipur

In a bid to keep pace with economic growth and to further strengthen its position in the construction equipment sector, JCB India has opened two new manufacturing facilities in Jaipur.

The company has invested Rs 500 crore in the two new facilities. Speaking at the inauguration on November 14, Lord Bamford, chairman of JCB Group, said: “The inauguration of the two Jaipur facilities is a significant milestone for JCB, which has been making in India for 35 years and has grown to become one of India’s most respected manufacturers. From small beginnings in 1979, I could never have imagined that our family business would employ 5,000 people in India making JCBs with thousands more employed elsewhere in the supply chain. The new factories in Jaipur mean our contribution to the Indian economy will grow and I am grateful to the Rajasthan government for their support in helping JCB make our investment ambitions a reality.”

Located on 115 acres of land and about 35km from Jaipur, the manufacturing facility will be JCB’s single- largest manufacturing footprint in India. When operating at full capacity, it will employ around 1,000 people. Component manufacturing has already started at one of the plants and production of telescopic handlers and skid steer loaders for the Indian market will begin.  The facility will also provide additional backhoe loaders from 2015.

The new factories boast of green and ecological initiatives including water management, rainwater harvesting, solar power and daylight optimisation.

The opening of the two new factories at Jaipur marks the beginning of another phase in JCB’s growth plans for India. “It is only a matter of time before the current short-term market concerns give way to the long-term growth in demand for construction equipment that will follow as the wider Indian economy picks up,” said Graeme Macdonald, JCB Group CEO.

The products made at the Jaipur plants will match global standards like those produced at its three other facilities in India at Ballabgarh and Pune.

Vipin Sondhi, MD and CEO, JCB India, elaborated saying JCB India is well positioned to build on its own ‘Make in India’ credentials in line with prime minister Narendra Modi’s call and will be expanding its exports as well as presence further in the domestic market.

A fully owned subsidiary of JC Bamford Excavators of the UK, the Indian arm includes the world’s largest backhoe loader factory at Ballabhgarh in Haryana. Its two factories at Pune make fabrications and components mainly for exports as well as heavy equipment like large excavators, wheeled loading shovels and compaction equipment. JCB leads in construction equipment in India with 60 dealers and 600 outlets across India.