Owing to being geographically cut off from mainland India and several policy failures & oversight on part of the government in the past, NER fared rather poorly in terms of infrastructural growth. However, the new Indian government ushering in policies such as ‘Look East' that aims to develop relationships with neighboring countries in South East Asia and central government's plans to invest 2lakh crores in the development of infrastructure in the north east region have been a game changer.

This influx of massive government funded infrastructure projects has spurred on the need for requisite infra services. Addressing the strong demand for a professional, organized, value based experience from renting construction equipment and an abundance of new construction projects in the NER, is Socristo Enterprise. Based in Guwahati, the young and ambitious firm provides contractors of all scales with construction equipment on rental basis through its two platforms, HeavyHire and Orange Formworks,

Built by a talented team that consists of leaders with vast experience in managing equipment fleets along with client relationships managers, Socristo Enterprise has worked with private construction companies, PSUs and government agencies so far. "From a private home builder in the city to the Ministry of Defence at 16,000ft in the border regions, we have catered to our reputed clients every where," says Umang Prithani, CEO, Socristo Enterprise.

Enabling Infra Growth
The North east region of India has seen exponential growth in the infrastructure sector in the last six years. The magnitude of the volume of construction projects in the NER is unprecedented and as a result, so is the demand for infra services. However it largely remains an unorganized sector. Aiming to rectify this, Socristo Enterprise renders a professional one stop shop rental experience for construction companies for all types of major construction equipment. "Our intention is not to disrupt the equipment rental market at all, it is rather to facilitate it to become more organized,"adds Umang Prithani.

Catering to construction projects' requirements at different stages of progress, the firm's inventory has about 40 different categories of essential construction equipment and 20 different categories of scaffolding and shuttering items. "We aim to provide all types of general construction equipment through our upcoming depots at various locations in the region to enable contractors to execute their projects with speed and cost efficiency", says Plabon Borah, Sr. GM, Socristo Enterprise.

Socristo Enterprise has two brands, 'HeavyHire'and ‘Orange Formworks', that provide construction equipment and form work systems on hire respectively. While Heavy Hire caters to road/highway/bridge contractors, Orange Formworks is designed for buildings/structures contractors.

The company has also developed inhouse operators, technicians and super visors training programs to ensure that the equipment is utilized at their maximum productivity levels and safety during operations is maintained. Furthermore, Socristo Enterprise is exploring the idea of developing training schools at their future branches to promote the development of skilled manpower, that is in severe shortage in comparison to the magnitude of upcoming and ongoing construction projects.

Opportunities Galore
Founded in 2017, Socristo Enterprise has been successfully enabling the growth of various projects across the NER. "Our philosophical mission is to enable development in the NER, as we strongly believe that the NER holds massive potential to become an economic powerhouse in the future" adds Umang Prithani. Since a majority of the contractors are now shifting to asset light business models where in they prefer renting/leasing rather than incurring heavy capital expenditure the company is expecting swift growth in the coming years.

Looking at global trends it's pertinent to note that equipment rental companies purchase majority of the equipment sold byOEMs. In the US, 80 percent of the equipment sold are purchased by rental companies whereas in India the number is only two percent."This highlights theopportunity for consolidation in the market and the room for rental companies to grow," concludes Umang Prithani. With an ambitious and bold vision, Socristo Enterprise is truly an upcoming firm to look out for.