Kamal Bali, President & CEO, Leeboy India is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Kamal is responsible for building partnerships in the Indian ecosystem of suppliers, customers, government, business and industry associations. In a career span of three decades, Kamal has held multiple positions and has handled several portfolios in different businesses. His assignment covered Business Strategy, Business Turnaround, Strategic Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, and General Management. Prior to joining LeeBoy India, Kamal spearheaded the transformation of Escorts Construction Equipment Limited, as its CEO & also as a Board member.
Leeboy India Ltd has been one of the major players in the construction equipment industry. LeeBoy India offer’s a plethora of services to the construction and infrastructure players, a package of products and solutions that this industry is not used to. LeeBoy India aspires to bring about a new paradigm in the Indian Construction Equipment space and create a sustainable niche with innovative customer centric approach, enshrining both, products and services.With its vast product range, which includes: Crawler Excavators; Motor Graders; Asphalt Paver; Challenger V Broom; Chip Spreaders; LBC-24W Concrete Curb and Gutter Machine; Pothole Spary Patcher; Asphalt Maintainer/Patcher; Asphalt Distributor, Leeboy India will bring to the Indian market a range of solutions and equipment for the Road building and Construction Equipment (CE) sector.
Replying to Yash Ved of IIFL, Kamal Bali "We stand at the threshold of a new India, an India that is surging forward to make a mark in the global stage. LeeBoy India plans to invest around US$50 mn in India over the next 3 years."
What does LeeBoy bring to the Indian market?
LeeBoy India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Technologies (ST) Kinetics, the land systems arm of ST Engineering, an integrated engineering group providing solutions and services in aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors.
LeeBoy India will bring to the Indian market a range of solutions and equipment for the Road building and Construction Equipment (CE) sector. Even before LeeBoy India was incorporated, we conducted several ‘Voice of Customer’ sessions, seeking to define ‘Value’ in our proposition as the Indian customer would actually want to see it.
The process helped us gain some invaluable insights into the gaps that exist in the Indian CE industry. The keystone to LeeBoy India’s business model is the ORM Initiative (Operation-Repairs-Maintenance). This has been crafted as a unique and differentiated marketing and customer facing strategy for the Indian market to bridge this gap.
The ORM initiative is an inseparable package of the right equipment and a skilled Operator Technician trained at our academy. This solution seamlessly provides equipment operation, preventive and breakdown maintenance and ensures a pre-agreed uptime, at a fixed cost to the customer. This ORM initiative is backed by a team of LeeBoy India professionals with deep work and functional insights in the road construction and construction equipment space.
What is your outlook for the Indian construction equipment industry?
India, for a while now, has seen a sustained growth in the construction equipment industry. The Construction sector is India’s second largest economic activity after agriculture and as per Oxford Economics, India is set to grow to be the third largest construction market globally by 2020.
Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that most of the major players from various countries want to invest in the Indian CE industry. There is also a focused drive by the Government of India’s on infrastructure development and its construction investment is expected to be nearly US$ 1 trillion in the twelfth year plan between 2012–17.
This is going to make the Indian CE market a very competitive field, driving most players to think of different and innovative ways of doing business which will lead to newer technologies and options to the user.
We stand at the threshold of a new India, an India that is surging forward to make a mark in the global stage. To add momentum to this wave of progress, it is critical for India to have infrastructure of international standards. The crying need of the hour is to Build India in a hurry!
Brief us about your expansion plans in Indian market?
The establishment of LeeBoy India is part of ST Kinetics’ strategy to become a more significant player in the road construction & maintenance and excavation products. ST Kinetics already has a strong portfolio of construction equipment in the road construction and earthmoving market segments and LeeBoy India will enable it to further compete favorably in a fast growing market. Towards this, LeeBoy India plans to invest around 50 million S$ in India over the next 3 years.
Our approach to market is very clear. First, we are here for the long haul. Second, we are not here to simply produce, stock and sell equipment. With the access to wide range of equipment available from LeeBoy, USA, which is owned 100% by the ST Engineering Group, LBI is strategically positioned to make a good use of the opportunities available in the growing Indian market.
The LeeBoy brand is well known in the United States for over five decades for its quality and innovative designs, and providing its customers with value, reliability and productivity. These indeed are also amongst the top needs of the Indian construction and infrastructure sector today.
Given LeeBoy’s experience and our new, integrated approach where we responsibly engage our select customers on a product life cycle basis. We are confident that we can play an exciting new role in building India’s vast infrastructure. We are here for the long-term.
What are the new product launches?
We have just launched the first ever Motor Grader - the LeeBoy 785i - engineered and manufactured in India to international standards. The 785i Motor Grader is a 12.4 tonne, 150 horsepower proven workhorse, designed to consistently level, rip, spread, cut and contour a variety of roads and other surfaces to exacting specifications. It brings greater value compared to its international peers by providing as a standard, advanced features like a fully automatic power shift transmission; ROPS (roll-over protection safety), FOPS (falling object protection safety) and air conditioned cabin for complete safety and higher operational efficiency. It also offers improved fuel economy due to its variable volume load sensing hydraulic system, lock-up clutch on torque convertor and electro-hydraulic fan drive.
In 2012, we will be introducing a slew of new products and solutions in the Indian market. Over the next 4-8 months, you will see us launching a range of LeeBoy Motor Graders, Excavators, Backhoe Loaders and Concrete Batching Plants.
These will be followed up by another set of interesting offerings in the road maintenance area from the LeeBoy stables such as Curbers, Pot-hole Patchers, as also other products in the excavation segment.
What are your plans globally?
Our Group's internationalization efforts have grown its global footprint to include over 100 subsidiaries and associated companies in 24 countries and 42 cities. Thanks to our parent company, ST Kinetics, which has offices and organizations across the globe, Leeboy has a good global outreach. At present, we have good reach in North America, some parts in Europe, Mexico, Middle East, China and Singapore.
Are you planning to set up manufacturing facility in Bengaluru? What is the investment?
Since our incorporation in October, 2010, our unique proposition has been successfully tested out and we are now looking to scale-up. We have already set up our Marketing, Design and Proto facilities in Bengaluru and our factory is soon to be up and running. We will be looking at an 110,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility which will be coming up near Electronic City in Bengaluru by Mid-2012.