Vehicle registration data, as has been released by Federation of Automobile Dealers Association of India (FADA) for the month of January has revealed that tractor sales dipped 13 percent on a YoY basis. Several constraints across the rural sector has resulted in the top 5 tractor manufacturers in India reporting significantly lower sales.
The Union Budget which draws attention to improvements in highway construction and MSP guarantees to farmers, along with the upcoming marriage season could bring in some positive results. Total tractor sales (retail) in the past month stood at 55,421 units; this was a 9.86 percent de-growth over 61,485 units sold in January 2021 and was also lower by 1.36 percent over 54,679 units sold in January 2020.
Mahindra topped the list with 12,986 units sold last month. This was against 13,652 units sold in January 2021 while market share increased from 22.20 percent to 23.43 percent YoY. Mahindra’s Swaraj Division also posted a YoY degrowth in tractor retails to 9,321 units, from 10,339 units sold in January 2021 while market share stayed at 16.82 percent in both years.
Sonalika Tractors (International Tractors Limited) also faced a YoY de-growth in terms of retail sales last month. Sales dipped to 7,600 units with market share at 13.71 percent down from 8,721 units sold in January 2021 when market share stood at 14.18 percent. The company has been noting good sales for its recently launched Sonalika Tiger DI 75 4W CRDs tractor that comes in with CRDs technology that complies with Trem IV emission norms, priced at Rs 11 lakhs.
Among the top selling OEMs last month were Escorts, TAFE and John Deere. Escorts and TAFE posted a YoY de-growth down to 5,457 units and 5,430 units respectively, thus bringing down market share as well.
John Deere on the other hand saw a marginal increase in sales to 4,879 units, up from 4,849 units sold in January 2021. Market share also increased from 7.89 percent to 8.80 percent on a YoY basis. John Deere had an autonomous tractor on display at the CES Technology Expo which showed off its ability to till a field without need for a driver. Launch date in India is yet to be revealed.
De-growth in retail sales was also reported by Eicher Tractors (3,602 units) and CNH Industrial (2,214 units). Eicher saw an increase in market share to 6.50 percent from 6.28 percent in January 2021 while market share of CNH dipped to 3.99 percent from 4.01 percent on a YoY basis.
Kubota (1,313 units), Force Motors (425 units) and VST Tillers (404 units) featured lower down in the list along with Indo Farm Equipment (296 units) and Captain Tractors (162 units). There were also other OEMs in the tractor segment that had sales of 1,332 units in the past month, down from 2,073 units sold in January 2021 causing a dip in market share to 2.40 percent from 3.37 percent in January 2021.