Escorts is betting big on the high-horse power tractor market and is planning to launch new products in this category every six months. Announcing the launch of “executive tractors,” under its premium tractor brand Farmtrac 6060 and Farmtrac 6065, here on Thursday, S. Sridhar, Chief Executive Officer, Escorts (agri machinery group), said, “These tractors are designed to suit the new breed of ‘Executive farmers', who view agriculture as an enterprise and talk in terms of output, money and use modern techniques in cultivation.”
The market for tractors of 60 HP and above had doubled in the last six years and it would double again in the next six years, Mr. Sridhar said. Escorts, which lost its market share with the entry of multi-national companies, was planning to regain its position with the launch of new variants and products in the high-end segment, he said. Mr. Sridhar said that despite fragmented ownership of agricultural land, consolidation was taking place in farming activity. This changing trend was more visible in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, where farmers were well-informed, growing lot of cash crops using modern tools and imported equipment. The 60 HP tractors come with four-cylinder turbo-charged, inter-cooled engines. These are offered in two transmission options, namely, 24-speed syncroshuttle gearbox to do multiple tasks and heavy-duty epicyclic transmission delivering high reliability in toughest conditions. These are equipped with four-wheel drive technology, ensuring full utilisation of engine power. According to Shenu Agarwal, (head-marketing), these tractors, manufactured at the company's Faridabad facility, are priced between Rs.7.50 lakh and Rs.10 lakh. Mr. Agarwal said the share of large tractors was 12 per cent of the total tractor market and hoped it would increase to 15 per cent in the next financial year.