I found this on another site, its interesting to me that Deere exports almost as many tractors from India as Mahindra does.
Neha Kaushik
New Delhi , May 31
IT IS not only passenger cars that are driving vehicular exports from India. Taking advantage of the lower costs of production, a number of multinational tractor majors have stepped up outsourcing of tractors manufactured in India, which led to a growth of 18.5 per cent in exports last fiscal.
According to Mr R.C. Jain, President of the Tractor Manufacturers Association (TMA), and Chief Executive (Group Affairs), Eicher Group, the export of tractors last year grew to 16,100 units from 13,581 units in 2002-03.
Unlike the previous years, the growth last fiscal was driven primarily by multinational firms. The largest MNC exporter from India was L&T John Deere with exports of 4,300 tractors in the last fiscal. John Deere has significantly increased outsourcing in recent years. The company's tractor exports from India in 2001-02 was only 220 units. Ford New Holland too has increased exports to about 1,240 units last fiscal from 850 units in 2002-2003 and 170 units in 2001-2002. The recent MNC entrant, SAME Deutz-Fahr also has plans to develop India as an export hub.
According to Mr Kamal Bali, Managing Director of SAME Deutz-Fahr India, the company is expecting 25 per cent of its business to come from exports by 2006.
Meanwhile, the two major Indian tractor exporters, Mahindra & Mahindra and Escorts are believed to have set aggressive targets for the current year. Mahindra & Mahindra, the largest exporter last year with exports of 4,770 units, is said to be studying new markets such as China for commencing exports this year.
Escorts Ltd, which exported 2,650 units last fiscal, is targeting exports of 6,000 units this year with an increased thrust on the European market. The company is developing its Polish subsidiary as a supply base for all of Europe, with Poland entering the European Union earlier this month.
"We will definitely use our assembly unit in Poland as a low-cost supply base for Europe. Two of our tractors would be receiving homologation by June, and another two by September. In addition, Poland itself is a fairly large market, and we have been doing quite well in the country," said Mr Rakesh Chopra, Business Head, Agri Machinery Group, Escorts Ltd. Most tractors exported from India at present are in the hobby tractor segment - in the 35 HP to 50 HP range - with the major export destinations being the United States and the SAARC countries. However, Europe, with a fairly large market, is emerging as an attractive destination.