How JCB rose to become the Xerox of bulldozers over a span of two decades

JCB India's revenues jumped from Rs 4,500 cr in 2010-11 to nearly Rs 12,000 cr in 2020-21, while profits surged from Rs 483 cr to Rs 1,500 crore

On Friday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was scheduled to discuss trade and industry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But, for most of the day, he was spoken of in the context of JCB, the construction equipment company whose backhoe loaders have become to bulldozers what Xerox is to photocopiers or Walkman was to portable music players.

As photos of Prime Minister Johnson, waving from a shiny new black and yellow machine appeared across pages and platforms, several people took to social media to discuss the message those photos could potentially convey in the backdrop of demolitions in many states, including a much-talked-about one in Delhi.

So, how did JCB become synonymous with bulldozers in India?

JCB’s rise in India has been nothing short of dramatic, more so during the past two decades, once the country began to build its infrastructure in earnest. In its first year of manufacturing in India, which started in 1979, the company made 39 machines. The output is projected to touch half a million next year. JCB India's revenues jumped from Rs 4,500 crore in 2010-11 to nearly Rs 12,000 crore in 2020-21, while profits surged from Rs 483 crore to nearly Rs 1,500 crore, according to Capitaline data.

JCB India now has six factories. Since 2007, India has been JCB’s biggest market and by 2014 India accounted for nearly 18 per cent of its global revenues. Today, one in every two construction machines sold in India is from the Rochester-based company.

Along the way, JCB’s machines acquired a kind of cult status. Actress Sunny Leone could be seen posing atop a JCB backhoe loader. Wedding albums would have images of grooms arriving driving its excavators. Despite the presence of well-regarded rivals such as Caterpillar, Mahindra, and Volvo, backhoe loaders -- commonly referred to as bulldozers -- have come to be called JCB. Their black and yellow hues -– they used to be blue and red in the 1950s -- can be recognised from a distance, which was the whole point of the colour change. The black and yellow can be seen even in low light and tell people that they could be approaching a construction site.

Of course, as recent events show, not everyone heeds the warning colours.