Action Construction Equipment Ltd is the world’s largest maker of Pick & Carry Cranes - the mobile workhorses that lift and shift loads on construction sites, factory floors and railway yards - and India’s most diversified construction-equipment manufacturer. Founded in 1995 by technocrat Vijay Agarwal, it grew from a single-product idea into a company that now sells everything from tower cranes and backhoe loaders to forklifts and combine harvesters across 37 countries. The recurring approach is simple: dominate a niche in lifting, then use that cash flow and distribution muscle to push into adjacent machines that the same customers already buy - always at a “value for money” price backed by service that promises a fix in under 24 hours.
Business segments
Three engines at different stages - a crane-and-construction cash cow that is the company’s backbone, a smaller agricultural-equipment platform built on the same distribution network, and a heavy-crane joint venture just being carved out to chase the top end of the lifting market.
1. Cranes, construction and material handling: the company’s backbone
ACE is the world’s largest Pick & Carry Crane manufacturer and has held over 60% of India’s mobile and tower crane market for nearly two decades - it wins by being the low-cost, high-reliability option with a service network that reaches over 125 locations.
- World’s biggest in its core product - ACE makes more Pick & Carry Cranes than anyone else globally, and India itself is the largest pick-and-carry producing country, so the company sits at the centre of the category.
- Dominant domestic share - it holds over 63% of the Indian mobile crane market and around 60% of the tower crane market, and has been the market leader in cranes for nearly 20 years.
- A full-site product range - beyond cranes, the portfolio spans backhoe loaders, vibratory rollers, motor graders, piling rigs, forklifts, warehousing equipment and aerial work platforms, so a contractor can source most of its site machinery from one supplier.
- Value pricing plus 24-hour service - the competitive formula rests on getting the specifications right, delivering reliable performance at a cost-effective price, and backing it with a service turnaround time of less than 24 hours.
- Manufacturing headroom - six of its eight plants sit on a single site in Palwal, Haryana, and blended capacity utilisation runs at around 60%, meaning it can absorb a demand uptick without immediately building new factories.
- Export white-labelling - it builds backhoe loaders for an American company and both backhoe loaders and tractors for a Turkish company, and export products command 5-10% higher prices than domestic equivalents.
2. Agricultural equipment: tractors and harvesters on the same dealer network
A small but focused farm-machinery business that sells roughly 2,770 units a year, built on the same distribution and manufacturing backbone as the crane division.
- Tractors and track harvesters - the portfolio covers tractors and track harvesters, with a market share of around 30% in the track harvester segment.
- Built for export from the start - the “Forma” tractor range was developed in-house specifically for international markets, and export tractors carry features that let them sell at a 5-10% premium over domestic models.
- Defence orders provide a niche - ACE has supplied 4x4 multipurpose tractors with special attachments to the Indian Army, including a pilot order and a subsequent larger tender for 482 units.
- Structural demand from farm mechanisation - Indian agriculture still relies heavily on manual labour, and cyclic labour shortages combined with rising rural incomes and government incentives create a steady pull toward mechanisation.
3. Heavy cranes: a Japanese-technology joint venture being carved out
A dedicated platform for truck cranes, crawler cranes and rough terrain cranes, formed as a 50-50 joint venture with Japan’s KATO Works - designed to crack the higher-capacity end of the market where customers pay a premium for Japanese engineering.
- Access to global heavy-crane technology - the JV gives ACE KATO’s technology leadership in heavy cranes, enabling deeper localisation and a stronger position in India’s infrastructure and industrial capex cycle.
- Customers pay for the Japanese badge - in this segment, buyers are willing to pay a 15-20% premium for a Japanese product over a Chinese competitor.
- Carved out from the parent - ACE is transferring its existing heavy cranes business to the JV on a slump-sale basis, with the transfer expected to complete by June 2026; that business generated Rs. 85.77 crore in revenue in FY25, about 2.6% of ACE’s standalone top line.
- Export feed to Japan - the JV also opens a channel for ACE to export material components and commodities to KATO in Japan.
- Locked in for a decade - each partner can nominate two directors to the board, and there is a 10-year lock-in period from the date of incorporation, signalling a long-term commitment.
Group structure and partners
ACE is a promoter-controlled standalone manufacturer with a handful of small subsidiaries, one strategically critical Japanese joint venture, and a deepening relationship with India’s largest crane rental company.
- Promoter-held - Chairman and Managing Director Vijay Agarwal holds 28.75%, and the Agarwal family together holds approximately 65% of the company.
- The KATO joint venture - the 50-50 JV, ACE KATO Private Limited, was incorporated in March 2026 and will house the heavy cranes business; ACE holds 99% of the paid-up capital until closing conditions are met, after which ownership splits equally.
- Sanghvi Movers partnership - ACE signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Sanghvi Movers, India’s and Asia’s largest crane rental company (and the world’s fifth-largest), to deploy indigenously manufactured heavy slew cranes across major infrastructure projects; Sanghvi will progressively expand its fleet with ACE-built machines.
- Ghana assembly-plant contract - ACE won a USD 24.98 million contract to design, equip and commission a state-owned assembly plant in Ghana for tractors, backhoe loaders and agricultural implements, with an installed capacity of 4,500 tractors and 600 backhoe loaders annually, financed through an Indian export credit line.