indiamarkets: What is the main reason behind organising this event?
Uppal: Today, there is much emphasis on infrastructure development. In terms of volume, the construction equipment industry is worth Rs 4000 crore. Whether it is roads, bridges, ports, airports, urban infrastructure, or power plants - civil construction has a very important role to play. Therefore, our contractors and construction companies should have exposure to the best practices available. It is an industry of enormous interest to contractors. There must be close to a million contractors and sub-contractors in India. There are millions of people who depend on the construction and mining industry for a livelihood. Large companies like Caterpillar, Komatsu, Volvo, Hitachi, Svedala are participating in Excon in a big way - they are going to display their latest hardware.

This is the first time such an exhibition is being organised. It will generate waves of interest; people will become more aware of the industry. We are also going to make available huge equipment to small contractors by way of wet lease through equipment bank. Ways of easy financing are also being discussed. The use of modern tools will enable productive work. This will also have a social impact, to a certain extent.

indiamarkets: Why has Bangalore been chosen as a venue of this exhibition?
Uppal: There is a very strong reason for this. With a number of major construction equipment manufacturers such as BEML, Ashok Leyland, Caterpillar, Hindustan Motors, Ingersoll Rand, L&T Komatsu, Telco Construction Company Ltd, Volvo India having their headquarters here, Bangalore proves an ideal location for such an exhibition. There is a cluster forming, which facilitates interaction among various companies. In fact, Bangalore has become the capital of construction equipment manufacturing in India.

indiamarkets: Why is it that infrastructure in this country has not developed as expected?
Uppal: The volume of construction equipment in India is far too small compared to countries like China and also by global standards. A shocking fact is that China sells 10,000 excavators every year. In India, we sell only about 1500. The same holds good for any category of construction equipment. The reason: There is so little spent on infrastructure. The solution is: Get started with infrastructure.

indiamarkets: How can an interface between IT and the construction industry be brought about?
Uppal: IT is basically a tool and not an industry by itself. It will enable other industries, the construction industry being no exception, to adopt competitive tools. The Internet can be used to disseminate information about a company and also get information about others; it is the best way to reach the customer. Even to the extent of booking service timings for customers, websites can be used. Especially in a country like in India, where many use construction equipment in remote locations, the internet can be used as a major tool of communication. The internet also facilitates internal office communication, which is very beneficial for an organisation that is geographically spread.

indiamarkets: The government is not giving enough impetus to infrastructure development. Still all the major international players have set up shop in India. Why are they eyeing India?
Uppal: They are eyeing the future. Most multinationals in India haven’t made any money. They continue to struggle with local problems. The most law-abiding companies in India are multinationals. They are very cautious and don’t want to be on the wrong side of the law. They don’t want to get into scams, unlike some local companies. They are very clean and professional. According to one leading auditor from ISO, around 2000 companies in India have environmental certification. Of these, 85 per cent are foreign companies. This shows that multinationals in India do care for the environment. They do not want to be caught on the wrong foot and they do not want anyone to raise a finger against them.

indiamarkets: What is the role of the government in the growth of this industry?
Uppal: There is no doubt that the government in our country has never done much. We must stop expecting from the government, not even facilitating growth of the industry. This can be left to the private entrepreneurs, national and multinational companies. We must not depend on the government unduly. The government has many other jobs to do. It has to focus more on social infrastructure like literacy and healthcare.

Over the years, the government’s attitude has been - `We will not do it, neither will we let others do it'. It is always ambivalent. This approach should change. Our mining industry is huge. We have 88,000 billion tonnes of coal. We are still not mining enough. But instead of giving impetus to mining activities, we have started to import coal.

The government charges a cess on diesel. Several thousand crores are mobilised through this. But much of this money has been siphoned off to other non-priority sectors. Now the Prime Minister’s Office is personally involved in infrastructure development. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is also under tremendous pressure. It is not enough if the government just passes orders. It needs to make statute amendments. In China, you can acquire any property in public interest with no explanations to any one. In public interest, the government should acquire extraordinary powers, whereby it has the right to acquire public property. This must be compensated at rates, which are made public. For instance, when it comes to laying roads, If the site is very close to the main road, there is a particular rate. If the site is one kilometer from the main road, there is another rate. Settlements should be made fast.

indiamarkets: How poor is the infrastructure in this country?
Uppal: You may impress any foreigner who comes with all your verbal skills. But the moment he sees the roads, he will have nightmares. Even before this happens, his luggage may not have been properly delivered, the toilets are stinking – these are small factors that are not looked into - that completely puts them off. When my colleagues come here from Europe, and we travel to a factory by car, I feel embarrassed – we go through roads that have pits like moon craters.

When Jack Welch of General Electric (GE) was here, he said, “I love India but I don’t like India.” That’s a very powerful statement.  Many Indians have wishes and thoughts. But very little of that is translated into action. My counterparts from Europe, when they come here, say, “every time we come, we see the same infrastructure.” The government has to take these comments seriously and act upon it. Infrastructure development projects should be given to professional contractors instead of government departments, which implement them very slowly.

In Pakistan, the highway from Islamabad to Lahore 350 km was built at the rate of one km every two days. Daewoo built the beautiful six lane roads. Indian companies can also do this job. They need to act seriously.

The single agenda that needs to be addressed immediately in this country is infrastructure. Just build roads – if you build roads everything else is done and taken care.

indiamarkets: Excon and construction industry - what is your punch line for it?
Uppal: We basically want to modernise construction practices in this country by introducing state-of-the-art construction equipment and offer innovative financing schemes.

The interviewer can be contacted at pradeep@indiamarkets.com