Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh (second from left) with JCB Bamford managing director and CEO John Patterson (second from right), JCB India managing director Vipin Sondhi (extreme left) and JCB Excavators managing director Mark Turner in Pune on Friday. A Telegraph picture

Talegaon (Maharashtra), Nov. 16: JCB India today opened its second plant at Talegaon, near Pune, which has been set up at an investment of $25 million.

The plant will produce 2,000 excavators and heavy earth moving equipment annually, half of which will be exported to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

With an annual global production of over 55,000 machines, the British manufacturer is the third leading producer of heavy line equipment in the world. It expects to produce 75,000 machines this year.

In India, JCB has a 55 per cent share in the construction equipment market.

“India is our largest market and sales here have quadrupled in the past five years. With investments in India’s infrastructure projected to go up from $200 billion in the Tenth Plan to $492 billion in the Eleventh Plan, we aim to invest heavily to keep up with this growth,” said John Patterson, managing director and CEO of JCB Excavators Ltd.

Volumes at the Pune plant are expected to rise three-fold by the end of next year.

The company has invested Rs 482 crore in India until now. This includes its first fabrication plant in Pune and another plant in Ballabgarh, Haryana. JCB India has also sought 100 acres from the Maharashtra government to expand its Pune operations.

The company doesn’t perceive any threat from China, which sells cheap construction equipment.

“There is 10 to 25 per cent price difference between Chinese products and ours, but their technology is dated. On the other hand, we rely on technology, service and product support. We’re confident of competing with them despite the rupee appreciation by 10 to 12 per cent over the past few months,” Patterson added.