Tractors in India

India is the world's largest manufacturer of tractors with 50% of world's output in 2016; it is also the world's largest tractor market.[1][2] Above, tractors adapted for different functions in various parts of India.

Tractors in India are a major industry and significant contributor to its agriculture output gains.[1][2]

In 1947, as India gained independence from the British Empire, the level of agriculture mechanisation was low. The socialist oriented five-year plans of the 1950s and 1960s aggressively promoted rural mechanisation via joint ventures and tie-ups between local industrialists and international tractor manufacturers. Despite these efforts, the first three decades after independence local production of 4-wheel tractors grew slowly. By the late 1980s tractor production was nearly 140,000 units per year, and a prevalence rate of less than 2 per 1,000 farmers.

After economic reforms of 1991, the pace of change increased and by late 1990s with production approached 270,000 per year. In early 2000s, India overtook the United States as the world's largest producer of four-wheel tractors. FAO estimated, in 1999, that of total agricultural area in India, less than 50% is under mechanised land preparation, indicating large opportunities still exist for agricultural mechanisation.[3]

In 2013, India produced 619,000 tractors accounting for 29% of world's output, as the world's largest producer and market for tractors.[1][2] India currently has 16 domestic and 4 multinational corporations manufacturing tractors.

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference aem.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference ft.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Seminar Report". taa.org.uk. 23 September 2006. Archived from the original on 23 September 2006. Retrieved 16 April 2021.