Domestic tractor manufacturer International Tractors Ltd. (ITL) on Thursday said it would soon set up plants in the U.S. and China besides increasing its production capacity in India to boost exports.
The Sonalika group company also plans to consolidate its presence in the African, South American and Asian markets.
“We have earmarked Rs.200 crore to fund various projects, which include setting up manufacturing facilities with local partners in the U.S. and China. We are also exploring a similar option in Europe.
“We plan to cater to the needs of the entire agriculture sector in these regions by selling tractors and other farm equipment,” ITL President (International Business) Rajiv Wahi told journalists here. Mr. Wahi further said ITL already had plants overseas — three in Africa in Cameroon, Egypt and Nigeria, one each in Jordan and Argentina.
“We are now looking at setting up regional hubs in at least four of our important markets — Africa, South America, Europe and Asia. We have already declared Argentina to be our regional hub for South America, while we will have another hub for the Gulf region in Jordan. We are yet to decide about hub for the Asian market that could be either in China or some Southeast Asian nation, while a hub would also come up in Europe,” Mr. Wahi said.
He said ITL was looking at setting up an assembly line in the U.S., where it had already tested the prototypes of the tractors.
“We are discussing with a potential partner and by early next year, the tie-up will be in place,” he said.
He further informed that ITL was exploring possibilities to acquire a facility or a component maker in Europe to set up an assembly line there.
Mr. Wahi also said ITL had tied up with Argentina's Apache to distribute their products that would be assembled in Latin America. The products will be co-branded.
ITL has tied up with Brazil's major tractor and farm equipment manufacturers, to sell their products there.
“We are also expanding our domestic capacity to 80,000 units annually to meet demand, including in export markets,” he added.
