The Indian tractor industry is likely to post a modest growth of 4-5% and agriculture sector by 3-5% this fiscal aided by the forecast of an above-normal rainfall and increase in kharif sowing area among others, said a veteran industrialist.

“This fiscal, the Indian tractor industry will have a modest growth of 4-5%. It grew by 1% in Q1 and the demand for it is likely to be strong in the coming months,” TAFE Ltd. Chairman and Managing Director Mallika Srinivasan told The Hindu.

In FY24, the domestic tractor industry reported 8% dip in its sales volume to 8.7 lakh tractors due to erratic and deficient rainfall, leading to delayed crop harvests and reduced sowing of crops. However, it posted marginal increase in Q1.

According to her, the demand for tractors is likely to be strong in the coming months due to the forecast of above normal rainfall, increase in kharif crop sowing area by 4.8%, uptick in demand, robust growth of agricultural input companies and announcement of higher minimum support price for all major crops in the Union Budget.

“All these augurs well for the tractor industry,” she said.

Many states in the north such as Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal have started showing positive results. However, the sales of tractors in southern states last year was down by 30%. It is picking up, but it is yet to recover fully, she said.

Talking about JFarm Services that facilitates rental of tractors and farm equipment for small and large farms through a digital platform, she said it posted a Farmer2Farmer business transaction of ₹1,200 crore in FY24.

“It is a free service offered on the digital platform as part of CSR initiative by TAFE. The entire business transactions occurs between the farmers without our intervention. We are the biggest player in this area,” she said.

Currently, it is being implemented in 17 states and has on boarded 14 million farmers, over five lakh agripreneurs and 48 lakh farm implements.

She also welcomed the Union Budget as it has several measures to help the farming community and agriculture sector. The implementation of Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture for coverage of farmers and their lands in three years, digital crop survey for Kharif using the DPI and the issuance of Jan Samarth based Kisan Credit Cards are a great step in this direction, she said.