"That point obviously gets missed when you look at a machine in isolation, but when you look holistically there is a whole ecosystem that gets built of trained manpower," Sondhi concludes. Across its dealer network, JCB India has some 6,000 people supporting the machines in the field.

Driving Demand

Major infrastructure investments in India have only helped firms such as JCB, but revenue is being put at risk as the country's economic engine ">slows down.

India's gross domestic product is expected to fall this year to just over 5% after enjoying annual growth rates of more than 8%. For businesspeople like Sondhi, that almost feels like a recession. But Sondhi says infrastructure investment will pick up again as policymakers sort out land-acquisition and environmental clearances that have stalled many large projects.

"It cuts across party lines," Sondhi says. "Nobody is arguing that we need better roads, better ports and airports. The issue really is, how do you execute this?" Politicians participating in India's upcoming national election, in 2014, most likely will help fuel a boost in ">infrastructure work to please voters, he adds.

After last year's peak that brought JCB India's revenue to just over $1 billion—contributing roughly 25% of JCB's worldwide sales—the company expects a dip this year of 5% to 10%. Sondhi is more optimistic about the next few years, targeting 5% to 10% sales increases in 2013 and another 10% to 15% in 2014.

JCB India may have gained ground early on, but the game is rapidly changing. More competitors, such as Deere and Mahindra, are working their way into the space, posing a challenge to JCB's enormous stake in the backhoe-loader segment.

"Sustaining that level of market share is difficult," says Samir Bansal, general manager of Off-Highway Research's India office in New Delhi. On the other hand, he says, "JCB has the distribution, which they can leverage."

The other problem is that backhoe-loaders represent a small percentage of all the heavy equipment sold in the world—just under 6%—according to Off-Highway Research. Crawler excavators are the dominant machines in the $100-billion equipment sector, representing nearly 40% of total machines sold worldwide. The numbers contribute to economies of scale that threaten lower-volume players' ability to compete.

JCB is aware of this trend, having in 2007 invested $25 million on a heavy-line plant in Pune, where it builds crawler excavators and other equipment. The move helps prepare JCB for future excavator demands. By 2016, excavators are expected to cut into the backhoe's nearly 50% share today, giving each category about 37% of the Indian market, Samal predicts.

"There is increased competition," says Sondhi. "That's healthy. It keeps us on our toes, and we are ready to take that head-on."