18-09-2020

With domestic traffic expected to drop by 50% and international traffic by up to 60% this fiscal, demand for tractors is expected to remain in the aviation industry. The Indian construction too is expected to contract by 7.5% in 2020, which would result in a decline in tractor demand in the construction sector.

Even though sales of tractors have picked up post the Covid-induced lockdown, manufacturers need to take measures to tide over uncertainties stemming from the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic by selling tractors as a solution both in agri and non-agri sectors, devising rental programmes and shared business usage, participating in the pre-owned tractors market, working on alternate fuel options and autonomous technology, Nomura Research Institute (NRI) Consulting & Solutions has held in its latest report �Tractors � Making the Trusted Workhorse Gallop into the Future�.

Apart from the ripple effect of the Covid-19, which has resulted in disruptions in the supply chain and labour shortages, tractor manufacturers will be subject to volatility on account of upcoming government policies, changing agricultural household landscape, and the megatrends in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Tractor makers need to take actions �for successfully tiding over these volatilities and also converting some of these into viable opportunities�, states the report.

Apart from use in the agriculture sector, tractors are used as the medium of transportation, for haulage and consstruction activities. As much as 35-40% of tractors in the country currently are used for industrial purposes or non-agricultural applications. In the aviation industry, for example, tractors find their major application to haul baggage and various industrial material on airport grounds.