New Delhi, April 2017 - The evening of April 21, 2017, was a proud occasion for Equipment India as the industry stakeholders gathered in large numbers at New Delhi's heritage Claridges Hotel, to celebrate the 4th Annual Equipment India Awards.

At the prestigious 4th Annual Equipment India Awards hosted by ASAPP Info GLOBAL Services, Mr. Prakash Pai, Managing Partner, Puzzolana Machinery Fabricators (Hyd) LLP, was conferred with the Equipment India - Person of the Year 2017 award. Mr. Pai has been adjudged for the award by the jury for his company's tremendous performance during last year in India by successfully competing with multinational players and emerging as the leader in its class of equipment.

Equipment India also recognised the leading brands in various equipment categories who have recorded the maximum sales during the year. Ammann Apollo won the award for maximum sales in asphalt finishers, while in backhoe loaders JCB has won the award. Other category awards were conferred on CASE India for compaction equipment, BEML for crawler dozers and rigid dump trucks, Tata Hitachi Construction Equipment Co for crawler excavators and mini excavators, Atlas Copco for mobile compressors, ACE India for mobile cranes, Caterpillar India for motor graders and wheel loaders, and Doosan Infracore India for skid steer loaders.

The winners were chosen by an eminent jury panel comprising Samir Bansal, General Manager India, Off-Highway Research, Anand Singh, CEO, MHE Rentals, DK Vyas, CEO, SREI Equipment Finance, Samir Malhotra, CEO, Shriram Automall, Sudhir Hoshing, CEO, IRB Infrastructure Developers, Ahamed Mohideen, Dy VP-Plant & Equipment, Lodha Group, Neerav Parmar, VP - Contracts and Procurement, Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, Nitin R Patel, Director, Sadbhav Engineering, Santosh Parulekar, Co-Founder & CEO, Pipal Tree Ventures, Sanjeev Kathpalia, Senior Advisor, Prime Ministry Republic of Turkey, and SP Rajan, Head - Plant & Equipment, L&T Construction.

In his welcome address, Pratap Padode, Managing Director, ASAPP Info GLOBAL Services said, "This event is possibly right at the beginning of the season for the construction equipment industry. Credit must be given to the government for having advanced the budget by a month to ensure that money reaches the right places for spending at the right time, as the monsoon otherwise washes most of the spending away. Hopefully, this time around everyone has already pre-empted that."

Speaking on the occasion, RK Pandey, Member (Projects), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), said, "Last year we constructed over 8,100 km of roads, which translates into around 20 km per day. Also, we have awarded over 16,000 km of new road projects. If we continue at this pace, we can construct at a rate of more than 40 km a day."

Anand Sundaresan, President, Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers' Association (iCEMA), addressing the event, stated, "If the industry has to have a sustainable growth, I personally feel that it is not only one particular sector but also all sectors, be it roads, railway, power and real estate, need to do well."

Leaders from the equipment industry gathered to discuss on the topic – Is government's infrastructure plan enough to build economic momentum? The discussion was moderated by Dr. S Vasudevan, Director, KPMG.

The members participated in the CEO Forum included Anand Sundaresan, President, iCEMA, Ramesh Palagiri, Managing Director & CEO, Wirtgen India, GVL Satyakumar, Executive Director, Railway Board, Ministry of Railways, RK Pandey, Member (Projects), NHAI, Ranjit Manjarekar, VP Asset Management, Tata Projects, Satish Sharma, President, Apollo Tyres, KK Kapila, Chairman, International Road Federation, and Rajeev Mukhija, CGM, IIFCL.