The Indian government should urgently consider imposing safeguard or anti-dumping duties on imports of two construction equipment segments — crawler excavators and tower cranes — as Chinese companies are rapidly expanding their presence in these markets in India through ‘predatory’ pricing supported by lower raw material costs, substantial export subsidies, and extended credit schemes, said Sorab Agarwal, executive director at Action Construction Equipment (ACE).
Photograph: Tingshu Wang/Reuters
“About five to six years ago, the share of Chinese companies in India’s crawler excavator segment was close to nil. Today it is 20-25 per cent.
“If safeguard or anti-dumping duties are not imposed, their share will rise to 40-50 per cent over the next four to five years,” he told Business Standard in an interview.
“Similarly, four to five years ago, Chinese firms held just 5-10 per cent of the tower crane segment. Today, their share is around 20-25 per cent,” he added.
Agarwal said that the ‘dramatic’ increase in their shares in these segments is due to multiple factors.
“Their prices of raw material are 15-20 per cent lower than ours.
“The Chinese government also provides export subsidies of 14-17 per cent.
“Together, this gives them a straight cost advantage of 29-37 per cent. On top of that, they offer deferred payment schemes and long-term credit to end buyers, which further makes their prices lucrative by 10-20 per cent,” he explained.
The annual market for crawler excavators and tower cranes in India, according to Agarwal, is estimated at Rs 18,000-20,000 crore.
The two segments of the construction equipment industry — crawler excavators and tower cranes — need ‘urgent protection’ from Chinese competition through “either safeguard duties or anti-dumping duties”, he said.
Chinese companies now hold 20-25 per cent share in these segments because of ‘predatory pricing’ made possible by aforementioned lower raw material costs, heavy export subsidies, and extended credit schemes that allow buyers in India to pay later, he added.
In September, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) recommended a five-year anti-dumping duty on crawler cranes (40–260 tonnes) and truck cranes (25–160 tonnes) imported from China, after finding that these machines were being sold below their normal value and causing material injury to domestic manufacturers.
“The surge in low-priced imports of these crawler cranes and truck cranes has eroded market share, depressed prices, and hurt capacity utilisation and profitability for Indian crane makers, prompting DGTR to propose a duty on the landed value of these cranes.
“The Indian construction equipment industry is eagerly awaiting the implementation of DGTR recommendations,” Agarwal mentioned.
ACE, which is headquartered in Faridabad, recorded an income of Rs 1,485 crore in the first half of 2025-26, recording a four per cent year-on-year drop.
Agarwal further mentioned that the first half of the fiscal year was impacted by the tariffs imposed by the US government and the recent emission norms imposed on the construction equipment industry.
“These are all short-term issues. I believe that long term levers for growth — low interest cycle, demand for infrastructure, aspirational population, etc — are in place…
“We are expecting reasonable growth in 2026-27 (FY27),” he stated.
ACE’s facilities have a combined annual production capacity of 27,000 units, including 13,500 cranes, 9,000 agricultural machines, 2,700 material handling units, and 1,800 other construction equipment units.
