ACE’s Sorab Agarwal is Equipment India Person of the Year 2022 at 8th India Construction Festival

FIRST Construction Council organised the star-studded 10^th Equipment India Awards 2022, presented by BKT Tires, honoured the stalwarts of the construction equipment (CE) industry and presented 19 awards under various categories to recognise the contribution of CE industry in building India’s strong infrastructure. The event, held recently at ITC Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai, saw the top performers as winners in the respective award categories and rewarded for their remarkable achievements. This year, apart from the Bestseller product categories and Person of the Year Award, Equipment India once again gave away awards in six other important categories.
 
The programme was inaugurated by Pratap Padode, Founder & President, FIRST CONSTRUCTION COUNCIL; Anshumali Srivastava, Chief General Manager, National Highway Authority of India; Ashok Chhajer, Sr. General Manager – OE Sales, Domestic Market, BKT Tires; Ramesh Palagiri, Managing Director & CEO, Wirtgen India, Equipment India Person of the Year 2015; and VG Sakthikumar, Managing Director, SCHWING Stetter India, Equipment India Person of the Year 2020.
 
Giving his inaugural address, Pratap Padode said, “Equipment India is over 15 years old and today we are celebrating the 10^th Equipment India awards. Even though the industry has grown by three times from $ 2.3 billion in February 2008 when we released the first edition of Equipment India to $ 6.5 billion currently, some of the companies have grown by 10 times since then.”
 
Sorab Agarwal, Executive Director, Action Construction Equipment (ACE), was unanimously chosen by the Jury Panel for the Equipment India Person of the Year 2022 for his remarkable achievements over the years that have propelled both his organisation and the industry. The Jury conferred on the award, considering the company's growth under his able leadership in not only cranes, but also in other equipment categories, and also the overall performance of the company last year. Agarwal received awards from past winners – Ramesh Palagiri and VG Sakthikumar – the winners of the same award in 2015 and 2020 respectively. Receiving the Equipment India Person of the Year award, Sorab Agarwal thanked the suppliers and dealers for the prestigious award.
 
Commenting on the event, Rajiv Poddar, Joint Managing Director, Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) stated: “We have been constantly developing newer products to meet the requirement of varied machine/equipment operating parameters, in line with OEM upgrading and innovations. Our deep understanding of the Off-Highway tire market has led to our capabilities to manufacture over 3,200 SKUs. Every year, BKT brings from 80 to 90 new products or new tire sizes to global markets thanks to extensive R&D, product design, and product development activities. In addition, we produce in-house our tire moulds and carbon black pigments, which provide us with major autonomy and ensure enhanced quality control throughout the entire supply chain. Our teams are continuously working towards developing new solutions to meet the needs and requirements of professionals in the construction and mining industries, further augmenting our tires as per customers’ requirements.”
 
Other Winners

The 10th Equipment India Awards 2022 recognised and rewarded eleven winners in the “Bestseller” product categories. The winners were Ammann India for Asphalt Finishers; JCB India for Backhoe Loaders; CASE Construction India for Compaction Equipment; BEML for Crawler Dozers; Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery for Mini Excavators and Crawler Excavators; Action Construction Equipment for Mobile Cranes; Doosan Bobcat India for Skid-Steer Loaders; LiuGong India for Wheeled Loaders; and Caterpillar India for Rigid Dump Trucks and Motor Graders.
 
The winners of the newly-constituted categories of Trainer of the Year and Dealer of the Year were L&T Construction and Mining Machinery. Best Innovation awards were given to Komatsu India for their product KOMTRAX, JCB India for LiveLink technology, and Wirtgen India for Soil Stabilizer and Cold Recycler WR 240. JCB India bagged the CSR Company of the Year award, while Schwing Stetter India won the Green Factory of the Year award for their newly-inaugurated state-of-the-art factory in the outskirts of Chennai.
 
The 10^th Equipment India Awards was presented by BKT Tires. Timken was the Platinum Sponsor, Gulf Oil was the Gold Sponsor, and Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery and Action Construction Equipment were the Associate Sponsors. Off-Highway Research was the Knowledge Partner and NHBF the Association Partner.
 
The selection process of the winners was highly transparent; an expert jury panel of the most eminent industry players vetted the findings of Off-Highway Research India, and then signed off on the winners.

Jury Members of EI Awards 2022
 

To know more about FIRST Construction Council visit: www.FIRSTconctructionCouncil.com