“We have outperformed every competitor in Indian biogas agitator market this fiscal” – Armatec leadership

Armatec FTS Head of Sales Florian Wück, CEO Matthias Rau and Managing Director – India Vijay Kumar Lanka (Left to Right)

1. How do you see the prospects of Armatec in India and why is the Indian biogas market strategically important for you?

Matthias Rau: Armatec is very competitive in India. We have our own facilities here. Our goal is not only to have customers but also strong partnerships. We have an excellent team guided by an excellent general manager – Vijay Kumar Lanka – who has an excellent network. Back in Germany we have a very good traditional mixing technology. Armatec has an excellent engineering department and very good products. We have very good experience and we have transferred it in 2019 into India.  It’s a rising market and we have good partnerships here which is key to success.

We make some parts ‘local for local.’ Only high tech & know how components come from Germany; rest everything is made here.

2. What’s your vision & role for the Indian market?

Matthias Rau: Our goal is to transfer the German biogas philosophy to India and make sure that players in the market have access to good products.

Florian, you’ve been associated with Armatec for quite some time now. What’s your view on the evolution of the market landscape over the past year?

Florian Wück: The customers in India have learnt a lot in the past one and half years. Now the customers have learnt to engage with the European players who have experience in biogas. They still have to learn a lot more because in Germany we had to learn the whole biogas life. Indian customers have realised this now and prefer the knowledge from Germany to India. They no longer believe that only buying cheap is good. In Germany there is a saying that if you buy cheap, you have to buy twice or thrice.

3. How has Armatec performed in the given period?

Vijay Kumar Lanka: In the last one year, all our existing customers became repeat customers because of the satisfaction they have got from the performance of our agitators. Starting April 2025, we have sold 120+ agitators and we are going to be the leader in this segment. We have performed far better than our competitors in the Indian market. We have added around 10 new projects to the list this year.

4. How do you see 2026 shaping up for you?

Florian Wück:  The Armatec India team has an extensive network; we will get many new projects in a few years with new partners. I think our side series of mixers will be ideal for the Indian market. We have sold about 300 such mixers and will run efficiently & strong in the biogas market in India.

5. Tell us something about your mixers’ assembly plant that Armatec has set up recently?

Vijay Kumar Lanka: We have built the facility over 12000 square feet in Hyderabad where currently we can assemble 300 agitators per year. Our new CEO Matthias Rau has huge experience in production and sales, and with his help we will develop the product with more local content. He has already helped us a lot with localisation of the mixers. We will develop the facility further once major orders begin to come from big players. Most of the orders currently coming from small players which is quick to close the deal.

6. What kinds of problems do customers encounter with your agitators?

Florian Wück: Nothing really. Our mixers have to work all the time in the biogas plant. One must know how to operate them. There is no risk with our mixers, it’s strong material.

Matthias Rau: In future, we have to support our customers not only as a component supplier but also as advisors to help the customers to run the plants perfectly. We want to give the customer a solution for the biogas plant. We are well prepared to deliver the products that customers may ask for in future as per the needs.

7. Which are the most sold agitators of Armatec?

Florian Wück: The EVO and EVO+ mixers are the most sold ones in the Indian market as they are most energy efficient mixers with 7.5 kW motors, 96 rpm and 1.4 meters propeller, and 15 kW, 200 rpm that destroys swimming layer to get good thrust inside digester. We use strong materials to build them. The tube thickness is about 20mm which no company has. We have the spark unit outside to protect the entire system. We have our service teams deployed at Hyderabad and Delhi.

9. As Armatec marks 60 years of excellence, how would you describe this journey so far, and how do you think India stands to gain from it?

Florian Wück: We celebrated 60 years of the establishment of the company for three weeks in Germany. In 1965 we started as a company in the agriculture sector. We produced the first shaft mixer in 1985 and started biogas systems in 1999. Today we are selling biogas agitators in 40+ countries. Since 1995, when the biogas boom took place in Germany, we sold many mixers in the home country. We supplied mixers to France, Italy and others when the biogas sector expanded there subsequently.

10. How can India benefit from Armatec’s experience?

Vijay Kumar Lanka: With this experience, we are giving the right solution to clients. We design the solution, offer them the right agitators for different substrates and the right number of agitators required. We offer them our 60 years of experience gained across countries. This is the key reason there has not been a single instance of manufacturing failure with our agitators in India till date. We supplied our first agitators in 2011 in Namakkal and they are still running.

11. As the CEO of Armatec-FTS, what message would you have for the biogas developers here?

Matthias Rau: I think we have to work strongly together not just for a great feeling, but more for great energy change.