Fayat group eyes on road building equipment exports from Sanand plant

The group known for its compacting machines and wide product range of asphalt mixing plants globally

Having commissioned phase one of its first road building equipment manufacturing plant in India at Sanand near Ahmedabad, France-based Fayat Group is eyeing asphalt mixing plant exports to the Southeast Asian markets in future.

At an initial investment of 16 million euros (Rs 116 crore roughly), the plant will be manufacturing asphalt mixing plants at a capacity of 25-30 plants per annum even as it looks to add other products in future. Through its Road Building Equipment Division, the 3.6 billion-euro Fayat Group offers products such as asphalt mixing, paving, compaction and recycling plants.

"India is a very important market for Fayat Group. Also, the cost advantage of setting up a manufacturing plant locally tends to be around 25-30 per cent. Through the Sanand plant, we are now closer to our customers and suppliers. In near future, we can look at exporting to other South East Asian markets from here rather than from Europe," said Jorg Unger, president, Fayat Road Building Equipment.

Known for its compacting machines and wide product range of asphalt mixing plants globally. The group is represented in India through its Marini brand which has seen some of the major infrastructure players such as L&T, GRIL, Ramky and KMC as its clients. The group claims to have seen its Marini plants being used to build major airport runways in India including Delhi International T3, Mumbai International, Bangalore, Cochin, Hyderabad, and Kannur, among others.

According to Blesson Varghese, director, Marini India, Fayat Group, post commissioning the group anticipates a sales of around Rs 20 crore in next 2-3 months. "The Indian market for asphalt mixing plants is close to 450-500 per annum including 300-350 continuous mixing plants. This offers a huge opportunity for Fayat even as we look to expand our installed capacity to 70-75 plants per annum in next 4-5 years," said Varghese, while adding that the company is pegging a turnover of over Rs 75 crore for the fiscal 2015-16.

Offering a comparison of roads built out of asphalt as against concrete, Varghese said the quarrying time for concrete tends to be one and a half times costlier than asphalt as well as less carbon friendly. "At a time when India is setting a target of building 30 km of road every day, the country needs to move towards asphalt roads which can be built swifter than concrete and are also carbon friendly," Varghese added.

 

With a price range of Rs 3.5 crore to Rs 9 crore, Fayat's road building equipment products currently see a localisation of 55 per cent at the Sanand plant which is spread across an area of 60,000 square metres. However, the group is looking to increase the same to 85 per cent gradually.

Meanwhile, the group is in talks with PWD, NHAI and other government agencies for increased awareness of asphalt built roads.