10-11-2012, 03:47 PM
INDIAN TRACTOR INDUSTRY
Introduction –
India being a predominantly agricultural country, where agriculture is the
life and blood of the economy, has been a traditional manufacturer of
different types of farm machinery and implements. However, the use of
advanced agricultural techniques in India started only in early sixties.
Modernization and tractor-ization in Indian agriculture is only post
independence phenomenon. One of the achievements of green revolution has
been that the farmers increasingly realized the advantage of tractor-ization
for obtaining the timeliness of operations. This would happen only because of
awareness of new farm technology among the farmers, rise in the level of
their income and education.
The biological source of energy especially bullocks, could not cope with the
requirements of the changed situation. Therefore, introduction of tractors
got accelerated in several agriculturally advanced states of country like
Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, etc. Tractors were introduced to Indian
agriculture in early twenties. Sh. Joginder Singh was the first farmer to
use a tractor, called a steam plough then, on the 12000 acres estate he had
inherited in the remote Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh. The demand of
tractors rose sharply in last two decades. However, the rate of adaptation
of tractors is different in different parts of the country. Punjab occupies
number one rank in this regard. Punjab possesses only 1.5% of the
geographical area of the country; the density of 85 tractors per hectare in
Punjab is the highest as compared to national average of 10.5 tractors per
hectare.
India is primarily an agrarian nation, with more than 50 per cent of our GDP
being contributed directly or indirectly by agriculture. No wonder, India is
considered the largest tractor market in the world. If that sounds great, let
us face hard facts. In terms of total tractors in use in the country, we are
ranked a distant eighth. In terms of penetration, India has a tractor density
of 10.5 tractors per thousand hectares of Gross Cropped Area (GCA) as
compared to the international average of close to 30 tractors per thousand
GCA.
Figuratively speaking, India’s large gross cropped area (GCA) is next only to
the big two — USA and Russia. That and the highly fragmented land holdings
in India have helped our country to become the largest tractor market in
the world. Thus the Indian tractor market, per Se, has to be viewed only
after considering its position in the world.
Despite a phenomenal increase in tractor population in the country, the
tractor density is very low at about 10.5 tractors per thousand hectares of
GCA in comparison to the international average of about 28 tractors. Also,
the small size of land holding in India, have led to low average power of
tractors at 35 Horse Power (HP), which is far lower than the global average
of above 80 HP.
The Beginning of Indian Tractor Industry
The decade of 60’s India saw green revolution resulting in increase in both
production and productivity. With the parallel emphasis on industrialization,
the birth of Indian Tractor Industry took place in 1959-60 when the
imports were restricted and 5 tractor manufacturing units set up in the
private sector, all with foreign collaboration. Date of commencement of
commercial production and collaboration are given in following table. Total
indigenous production of tractors by 1965 was just 6000.
With the successful introduction and acceptance of the high yielding seeds,
however, there was a sudden upsurge in the demand for tractors after 1967
and the demand started multiplying at an annual rate of approximately 50%
(1967:18,000; 1970: 33,000). A natural consequence of this sharp upsurge
and consequent shortage was a heavy premium on the price of tractors.
Recognizing the situation, import of tractors into the country was liberalized
and over and above the domestic production of 20,000. In 1970,
tractors were imported.
The Government’s decision to freely invite new entrepreneurs to
manufacture tractor in 1968 and sudden upsurge in demand, with the green
revolution, led to a scramble of new entrepreneurs for new collaborators. 6
units eventually, established the actual manufacturing facilities. They were
as follows:
The Maturing Years -
With the entry of new units in 1970 and increasing Government pressure
towards indigenization picked up substantially after 1970 and by 1978 almost
all the tractors manufactured were nearly indigenous. A fillip to
indigenization was also given by the overall industrialization of the country,
when a large number of ancillary manufactures had also established them
and were in a position to supply a wide variety of components to the tractor
industry.
The sharp liberalization of imports in 1970 had given the nascent Indian
Tractor Industry a substantial setback in 1970-73, when low cost import
particularly from East European countries had become far more attractive.
In India, the variety in land conditions makes it necessary to diversify the
availability of tractors. Today tractors with HP ranging from 12 to 75 are
available in India. At present 44 models tractors are available in India, listed
category-wise as follows: