John Deere India has exported fully built tractors from its India plant to the US, Japan, Germany and other parts of Europe.
The company had shifted a line to manufacture the 5M range of its high-end higher horsepower tractors in India during the Covid-19 pandemic to leverage the manufacturing and supply base in the country.
Shailendra Jagtap, managing director and country manager, India, John Deere, said the company exported tractors made in India to 110 countries and the 5M was the latest series to be exported out of the country. These are tractors in the 75-130 HP range and are being manufactured exclusively for the export markets. The company is at present exporting around 35% of its total production.
Jagtap said the company is not only exporting tractors but also components and electronic systems from India. There are 80 Indian suppliers of John Deere India who have now become global suppliers and are playing a part in the advanced products being developed by Deere globally, he added.
In addition, John Deere India is also developing products, providing engineering and IT support to the global operations with a 4,400-strong team located in Pune and Bengaluru.
Mukul Varshney, region 1 director (corporate affairs), John Deere, said the company will continue to invest and leverage manufacturing, talent and India’s supply chain to serve farmers in India and around the world, with growth expected in both the domestic and export markets.
John Deere India, a subsidiary of John Deere Singapore (an arm of Deere & Co), has recently completed 25 years of operations in India. The company is headquartered in Pune with a plant at Sanaswadi near Pune with a capacity to make 72,000 tractors, and in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, which has the capacity to manufacture 60,000 units of the 5000 Series of tractors in India. The company had a customer base of 700,000 with around 10% share of the Indian tractor market and a leading position in the 45 HP and higher range.
The country’s total tractor sales in FY23 are expected to be at 900,000 units and FY24 is also expected to remain at a similar level, but this would depend on the monsoon, Jagtap said.
Apart from tractors, John Deere now also has a road construction company in India which was part of the global acquisition of the Wirtgen Group, which has a factory in Pune.