How anti-dumping duties could elevate ACE in the crane business.
29 Dec 2025 | 5817 Views | By Shahkar Abidi
For years, the Indian market for high-capacity truck and crawler cranes has been dominated by Chinese manufacturers, helped by cheaper domestic steel, state support, and soft financing that left them 30–40% cheaper than Indian rivals. The Central Government now proposes anti-dumping duties of roughly 35–40% on Chinese cranes, covering truck ...
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For years, the Indian market for high-capacity truck and crawler cranes has been dominated by Chinese manufacturers, helped by cheaper domestic steel, state support, and soft financing that left them 30–40% cheaper than Indian rivals. The Central Government now proposes anti-dumping duties of roughly 35–40% on Chinese cranes, covering truck cranes up to 160 tonnes and crawler cranes up to 260 tonnes, in a move that would significantly narrow this price gap.
ACE sees the measure as more than a simple tariff adjustment. During a recent call with analysts, Vyom Agarwal, president of Action Construction Equipment Ltd, argued that the market had long been skewed. "For several years, the Indian market has seen aggressive pricing and supply from overseas players, which at times created distortions and discouraged meaningful investments in advanced local manufacturing," Agarwal noted. "A corrective framework therefore not only protects against unfair dumping but also strengthens the long-term foundation for Indian OEMs to scale, innovate, and compete globally."
A Local Champion in Cranes:
ACE, headquartered in Haryana, has quietly become a heavyweight in its niche, positioning itself as the world's largest manufacturer of pick-and-carry cranes. The company claims more than 63% market share in mobile cranes, 63% in fixed tower cranes, 75–80% in self-erecting tower cranes, and the number-two position in lorry-loader cranes, dominance that gives it considerable leverage as policy shifts in favour of local manufacturing.
ACE is considered among the leading material-handling and construction-equipment manufacturers, with a majority share in mobile and tower cranes and a growing presence in backhoe loaders, forklifts and tractors. That mix places ACE at the intersection of infrastructure, real estate and industrial-capex cycles.
ACE unveiled an extensive suite of next-generation, technology-forward equipment at EXCON 2025. The new portfolio includes intelligent tower cranes, passenger lifts, AI-assisted pick-and-carry cranes, advanced aerial work platforms, high-performance telehandlers and a range of advanced material-handling systems and robust construction equipment, reflecting ACE's sustained focus on new-age technology, driving performance, reliability and safety across India's infrastructure and industrial sectors.
Demand Climbs With the Skyline
India's construction pattern is slowly shifting upward, as denser cities and tighter urban land supply push builders toward taller structures and more complex projects. That in turn is boosting demand for high-reach, high-precision lifting equipment, from large tower cranes for precast construction to heavier crawler cranes for industrial and infrastructure sites.
ACE's own reading of the opportunity is bullish. By its internal estimates, the Asia-Pacific crane market is expected to clock the fastest growth globally between 2020 and 2027, driven by building booms in China, India and South-East Asia. The crane market, on these projections, has already expanded by about 142% between FY20 and FY25, underpinned by infrastructure pipelines, urban housing and industrial projects, all of which typically generate knock-on demand for tipper trucks, concrete mixers and other equipment.
Scaling Up: From Cranes to Backhoes
ACE is responding to this backdrop by focusing first on sweating its existing manufacturing assets harder. Management in its investor presentation highlighted that it aims to lift capacity utilisation from around 60% to capture buoyant demand and a strong replacement cycle in India's crane fleet. The company is also pushing customers toward its NX Series multi-activity cranes while developing bigger crawler-crane models and higher-capacity tower cranes to address the shift toward precast and high-rise construction.
The strategy is not confined to lifting equipment. In construction machines, ACE has identified the backhoe loader as a workhorse and a core product, citing an addressable market of Rs 8,000–9,000 crore. It is targeting annual growth of more than 50% over the next three to five years in backhoe loaders, helped by export opportunities and a new model equipped with a Perkins engine for European markets. In material handling, meanwhile, ACE is aiming to lift its market share to 25% over the next two to three years, deepening its role in warehouses, factories and logistics hubs that also underpin automotive and component flows.
What it Means for India's Industrial Ecosystem
If anti-dumping duties are confirmed, India's crane market could become an early test case for how trade remedies and "Make in India" ambitions play out in heavy equipment, a domain that sits adjacent to many shared tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers in the automotive space. A more level playing field could encourage domestic investment in higher-end cranes, telematics, cleaner powertrains and safety systems, accelerating the technological upgrade that is already visible in parts of the construction-equipment portfolios.
For ACE, the opportunity is clear but not effortless: it must translate policy support and market share into consistent profitability, export competitiveness and product reliability in segments where global brands remain formidable. For India's wider automotive and capital-goods ecosystem, the direction is equally clear, as the growth in cranes, backhoe loaders and material-handling equipment will increasingly move in lockstep with infrastructure spending, urban densification and the broader investment cycle that also drives truck, bus and off-highway demand.