As cash crops like cotton and groundnut in Gujarat have been hit owing to weak monsoons, tractor sales too have seen a dull period in the state during the second quarter of the financial year. While companies are gearing up to boost sales by launching fuel efficient models, they also point out that non-farm usage of tractors is also on the rise.
After selling record number of tractors (5,566 units) during the April to June period this year in Gujarat at a time when the company's overall tractor sales had dipped by 1.1 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) too admitted that Gujarat sales have taken a beating during the second quarter (July to September) of the fiscal.
"During the last quarter, two cash crops, cotton and groundnut have not done well owing to weak monsoons, so tractor sales in Gujarat has taken a beating", said Sanjeev Goyle, senior vice president - Marketing & AppliTrac of M&M. He did not wish to share exact sales figures though. Goyle added at the same time that, "If the ravi crop season does well, we expect sales to pick up during the October to December period."
Escorts Limited, another leading tractors player also said that tractor sales in Maharashtra and Gujarat are down this year, and there has been a decline of almost 25 per cent during the kharif season.
Sameer Tandon, head of sales, services and spare parts, Escorts Agri Machinery, said, "Overall tractor industry this year has been flat, sales are rather down by 1-1.5 per cent. While north and east have shown steady growth, poor rains in Maharashtra and Gujarat has affected the kharif crop, and, in turn, tractor sales."
He added that in Gujarat the rains have been a spoil-sport and cash crops have not done well during the July to September period. Escorts follows an October to September financial year. Tandon informed that while a total of around 56,000 tractors were sold in Gujarat last year, this year it is down by 12 per cent to around 50,000 tractors.
"We have managed to retain our market share in the state and have sold around 3500 units this year, and have also launched new products. We are now focussing on coming up with fuel efficient products in the mid-segment (35-40 horse power HP)", Tandon said adding that the mid-segment comprises around 70 per cent of the tractor market in Gujarat.
Tandon, however, pointed out that non-farm usage of tractors is increasingly on the rise, and hence Escorts is trying to keep the changing requirements of farmers in mind when designing new models. "Today, a tractor doubles up for a transport vehicle, an excavator, a sprinkler, as a backhoe loader etc and are used in sand mines and brick kilns and also for ferrying passengers. The farmer uses it for the crop season and rents it out for the remaining period, hence, tractors are now getting used round the year. People would attach simple mechanical enhancements and use the tractor for multiple purposes", he explained.
Escorts has thus tried to enhance the power of the tractors, but also retain the fuel efficiency. With its new Powertrac DS Plus tractor series, the company has managed to bring down fuel consumption by around 15 per cent, Tandon claimed.
