Volvo unit to foray into equipment rentals

Hyderabad, Aug 25 (UNI) Volvo Construction Equipment (VCE) will foray into 'equipment rentals' sometime in October 2006 before starting India's first training school for construction equipment operators at Bangalore by August 2007, a senior official today said.

To be located at the Volvo's facility near Bangalore, the school will involve an investment of five lakh USD and train about 200 personnel annually on the operation of the entire range of Volvo machinery besides handling of other construction equipment, VCE Division Head Mrityunjaya Singh told the media here.

The school will expose them to simulated construction area and machines, provide audio visual facility and serve as a virtual demonstration centre.

The company, which had so far trained 11,000 drivers on 'Volvo' buses and truck operations at a facility about three kms from its Bangalore centre, plans at a later phase to train ''free lancers'' also for a ''token fee.'' With nine dealers, 53 service centres and 21 part warehouses across India, Volvo is planning to start its rental programme sometime October this year.

The company equipment can be hired on rent fixed on the ''design, performance and sophistication'' of the machines.

VCE, which crossed Rs 1000-crore sales by calender 2005, had a 14 per cent market share and was on the third slot of the construction equipment industry in India.

Eyeing the huge infrastructure and irrigation development programme in the state, Mr Singh also opened the first integrated dealership in Andhra Pradesh which would extend a comprehensive range of services with Volvo machines.

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