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Farm labour shortage and rising mechanisation is fueling the tractor segment growth in Uttar Pradesh.
Last year, almost 98,000 units were sold in UP, which is now catching up with Punjab and Haryana as a market for higher Horse Power (HP) capacity.
"The tractor market in UP grew by about 14% last year due to rising farm incomes and the labour shortage," Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) vice president (sales) Rajeev Rellan told Business Standard.
He said the harvest was good due to adequate monsoons, while farm incomes had also risen on the back of higher minimum support prices (MSP).
The company is the market leader in UP tractor space with 37% share, offering about a dozen models with varied HP capacity.
The domestic tractor market size is over half-million units per annum, which grew at 19% last year.
Meanwhile, the rising usage of tractors for non-agricultural purposes has also been stoking the sales of tractors.
Apart from farm, tractors are deployed in sand mines, brick kilns, road making, ferrying passengers etc. This keeps the tractors occupied throughout the year and results in extra income to the owner during non-farming seasons.
This trend started 10-12 years back and the non-farm usage of tractors is estimated at 40 per cent. Acknowledging this phenomenon, the modern tractors are increasingly being improvised to serve this aspect.
Meanwhile, the company today launched its new tractor model Swaraj 735 XT, which is a 40 HP tractor giving extra power, comfort and performance to customers.
