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Neha Kaushik

New Delhi , May 5

TRACTORS and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE) has emerged as the second largest tractor manufacturer in the country in the last fiscal, displacing Punjab Tractors Ltd (PTL), which slipped to fourth place.

In terms of sales, the company was placed only next to market leader Mahindra & Mahindra, which saw a sales jump of about 32 per cent to 65,390 units in the year.

TAFE, a unit of Chennai-based Amalgamations Group, improved its sales by about 36 per cent in the last fiscal to 33,848 units as compared to 24,895 units in the previous year, data compiled by the Tractor Manufacturers' Association (TMA) showed.

The company's market share also saw an increase in the year to about 13.67 per cent from 12.98 per cent in the previous year. This market share may jump to more than 20 per cent in the current year if TAFE goes ahead with its proposed acquisition of the tractor business of Eicher Motors.

Meanwhile, PTL despite seeing a jump in sales of about 18.4 per cent to 30,330 units in 2004-05, as compared to 25,602 units in the previous year, saw a drop in market share by about one per cent in the year.

Escorts Ltd, however, maintained its position as the third largest tractor manufacturer in the country with a sales increase of 24 per cent to 31,696 units in 2004-05.

Overall the tractor industry recorded a growth of about 30 per cent to 247,531 units in 2004-05 up from 1,91,673 units in the previous year.

Going by the current trends, market analysts forecast that the industry would touch its all-time high level of about 2,70,000 units (recorded in 2000) in the current year.

Tractor sales, it may be recalled, fell from 270,000 units in 1999-2000 to 1,70,000 units in 2002-03. But the year 2003-04, helped by good monsoons, saw a revival in the industry, with sales growing by 10.5 per cent to 1.9 lakh units.

The major factors driving the industry last year have been easy availability of finance (with a reduction in interest rates) and good cash flow to the farmer, besides pent-up demand over the past two-three years. The inventory position too has improved drastically.

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