Agri Sector On Quick Revival Path As Tractor Sales See Highest Growth In March

If farm equipment sales are any indication of progress in agriculture, India has already shown signs of a big revival in the farm sector after a dull show in the last several months due to climatic as well as economic turbulence. Close on the heels of India’s claim on achieving 4 per cent growth in agriculture, the latest sales trend emerging from the industry reaffirms that the sector is reviving quicker and faster.

The country’s largest farm equipment maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd claimed a 29 per cent growth in their tractor sales in March over the last year. The tractors and farm equipment unit of $17.8 billion Mahindra Group said on Monday that its domestic sales in March 2017 were at 17,973 units, as against 13,931­ ­units during March 2016.

“We have sold 17,973 tractors during March 2017 with a growth of 29 per cent over last year. With continued government support to agriculture and expectation of bumper rabi crop, we expect market sentiments to remain positive,” said Rajesh Jejurikar, president - Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

Mahindra’s tractor exports also posted an impressive growth in March with sales of 1,364 units, which grew around 82 per cent over March 2016.

While, its rival Escorts Agri Machinery has registered 31.7 per cent growth in its domestic sales for the month of March 2017. It sold some 7,014 tractors in March, according to a company filing at the Stock Exchanges.

For the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017, Escorts Tractors sold 14,625 units in the domestic market and exported 353 units, thereby recording growth of 26 percent and 62.7 percent, respectively, it said in the exchange filing.

Government of India has of late put a fresh thrust on post-harvest infrastructure by completely revamp the existing 10-year-old Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana to take farming in India to a new level. The revamped programme, which has already received green signal from the department of expenditure of the finance ministry and the planning body Niti Aayog, is titled as as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana -Raftaar (Remunerative Approaches for the Agriculture and Allied Sector Development).

Under this, more emphasise will be given to development of agriculture infrastructure, especially, post-harvest infrastructure and promotion of private investment in the sector across India in the next couple of years. This is aimed at fast-tracking the agriculture development taking it to a new level of growth trajectory, which is beyond 4 per cent.