The Hindu Business Line : SAME India to supply 600 tractors to Angola

SAME Deutz-Fahr India (P) Ltd, the Indian arm of the Italian tractor manufacturer, has bagged an order from Government of Angola for 600 tractors, accessories and spare parts.

The order is worth about Rs 45 crore, Mr Kamal Bali, Chief Executive Officer, SAME India, told Business Line.

"This is our first major deal and we want to create an impact," Mr Bali said. The tractors to be shipped to Angola would be 60 HP, Euro version, he said. The order is to be executed by December.

He said that the current year was turning out to be a good one. Recently, the company secured another order from the Union Government for 240 tractors. These tractors are to be gifted to the Government of Armenia.

Last year, SAME exported 250 tractors made at its plant in Ranipet, near Chennai. Exports in the current year would more than quadruple to 1,100 tractors, Mr Bali said.

Exim line of credit

A crucial element in the Government of Angola deal was the role played by the Exim Bank of India, which gave the government a $10 million line of credit, he said.

Exim Bank's Chief General Manager, Mr K. Muthukumaran, told Business Line that Chinese products were flooding the African markets. Exim Bank's lines of credit helped Indian companies win orders against stiff competition from China, he said. About 95 per cent of the bank's lines of credit, of about $11 billion, were for African buyers, he noted.

The SAME plant here can produce 8,000 tractors and 12,000 engines a year. The company will invest about Rs 15 crore each year for the next three years in expansion, which will take the capacity to 15,000 tractors and 25,000 engines by 2010.

The total market is 2.75 lakh tractors, of which about two lakh units are less than 40 HP capacity and 75,000 units of 40 HP and above. It is in the latter segment that SAME competes. According to Mr Bali, the company is eyeing a 10 per cent share of the 75,000-unit, `40 HP and above' market.

In 2006, the company expects to sell 5,000 tractors in the domestic market, he said.

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