Chennai, Mar 3 (UNI) JCB India, a leader in the construction and equipment industry, has become the first company in the country to have sold 50,000 machines.

The company, which had a 55 per cent market share in India, also achieved the feat of selling over 10,000 machines in the year 2006 alone, company Managing Director Vipin Sondhi told a press conference here.

JCB offered a range of backhoe loaders, loading shovels, tracked excavators, telehandlers and skid steer leaders specially suited for tough Indian conditions, he said and added that every one out of two construction equipment sold in India was a JCB.

With two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at Ballabgarh in Haryana and Pune in Maharashtra, JCB India's product range consisted of four product categories and 15 construction models.

Company Vice President-Marketing Sandeep Singh said the company had an excellent network of 43 dealers and over 200 outlets across the country.

He said the South Indian market, particularly Chennai and Hyderabad, was growing fast garnering 30 per cent of the share.

On future plans of the company, he said expansion of excavator range and compaction equipment was on the cards and a feasibility study was being conducted on telehandler range.

UNI