TRACTORS COSTLIER

Bombay, April 19 : Tractor manufacturers have raised prices by Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,000 per vehicle. Mahindra and Mahindra have pushed up their quotations by around Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 70,500 per vehicle falling in the 35 H. P. range. Swaraj Tra9tors made by HMT has also realised its price ambitions by around Rs. 2,000 per vehicle. Escor­ts had effected an increase in prices two months ago and the market is awaiting the company's reaction to the latest hike by some tractor producers.

The immediate provocation is said to be the hike in tyre prices which the units fouLd difficult to

absorb. Tractor producers have decided to pass on the cost escala­tion to the consumer. What is significant is the tractor manufac­turers' decision to shift the cost hike immediately. Demand for tractors is buoyant and has been pushing up sales of the tractor companies.

With commercial banks loosen­ing credit controls, the farmer is financed upto l<O per cent of the price of a tractor. Thus, the price hike will not affect tractor demand since the farmer does not cough up all the price increase at the first instance. The increase in the margin money is not significant.

Last year's bumper crop helped in pushing up demand and. hence,

48

total production of tracto 1s to

.. around 82,000 units in 1983. Pro­duction is expected to go up to at least 88,000 in 1984.

(Business Standard, 20.4.84)

COMPONENT PAUCITY HIT S TRACTOR OUTPUT

Lucknow, Wednesday : The State Industries Minister, Mr. Veer Bah adur Singh, told the UP Assem­bly during question-hour today that the Auto Tractors Limited at Pratapgarh produced 381 tractors as against a target of 2,000 during 1982783.

Replying to a question raised by Mr. Reoti Raman Singh,, the minister

said that the shortfall was due to the non-availability of comronents in the country. Nearly 85 pn co:nt of the components were be ng im­ported at present, he added.

(National Iieraled, 16.3.84)

UP FIRM TO PRODUCE 3,000

TRACTORS

Lucknow, May 13 : U. P. Auto Tractors Limited t State Government undertaking plans to produce 3,000 tractors and 500 engines.

A provision ,of Rs. 1. 5C crores has been made in the budget for 1984-85 for the project. The pro­ject commenced trial production of tractors in 1982-83 and 381 tractors and 235 engines were manufactured. Ui1til October last 326 tract0rs were manufactured against the pr )ductwn programme to manuKtcture 1,500 tractors and 200 engines fo r 1983-84.

The state Government lus provi­ded the entire amount of the equity capital of Rs. 7.50 crores and reim­bursement of cash losses amounting , to Rs. 3.90 crores. Rs. 8 lakh for 1981-82, Rs. 2.07 crores for 1982-83 and Rs. 1 crore for 1983-84

Cash losses for 1983-84 are estii11ated at Rs. 3.69 cron.s . These operating losses are expected to be made up from profits in subsequent years.

(Statesman, 14.5 .84)

AUTO TRACTORS IMPRESS­IVE SHOW

Auto Tractors Ltd. has taken giant since it started its factory in

1979 at Pratapgarh in U. P. for the manufacture of agricu!turfll tractors

In order to bring the gains of industrial development to the peo­ple of the area, the company ha<;

in collaboration with British Ley­land. The underlying factors account­ing for the success are the encour­agement and tireless efforts of the U. P. Government and the personn­el of the company, under the technical guidance of the company's board of directors.

. undertaken a sche1ne to develop ancillary units to be established by 19g5-86 who would mtet 30 per cent of the requirement of comp­onents.

The initial license to pro uce tractors was granted to the pri vate sector in 1972. But the licencee failed to keep up the schedule when . the U. P. Government stepped in and entrusted the project to Auto Tractors. Within two years, on October 2, 1981, tl}c first tractor rolled out of the factory and in another year company succes­sfully attained 90 per cent indigeni­

sation.

Without resting on the oars the company went a step further by producing the prototype of Auto­land 4000, an automatic diesel eng­inc, under the same collaboration, in 198 ~. -The new engine was put to severe tests by Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehra Dun and it came out successful.

It conformed to all the technical specifications, and the most promi­nent among them being the unique fuel efficiency. The company lns taken up commercial production of the engine. The expected out turn is aimed at 2000 in the first year to be increased by 50 per cent in another year.

Prior to this no company had manufactured diesel engines to be sold exclusively as such in open market. Its technical superiority ensures an average kilometerage of

20.3 kms. per litre.

49

In a span of three years, Pratap· garh has been transformed fr ._m a non-descript spot into an industri­alised complex, throbbing with life and cultural activities for which one has to turn to the result oriented activities of Auto Tractors which are a pointer to raise the status of the area into a major zone, in the industrial map of the country.

(Amrita Bazar Patrika, 21.4.84)

M~HINDRA AND MAHINDRA

Mahindra and Mahindra has undertaken expansion scheme of its manufacturing capacity of jeeps and light commercial vehicles to 25,000 units per annum and of tractors to 15,000 units per annum. It will also modernise manufacturing fac­ilities and update the automotive diesel technology.

The ccmpany·s present annual installed capacity is 22,500 units of jeeps and light commercial vehicles and 14,000 units of tractors.

The financial institutions, com­mercial banks and SICOM have agreed to grant term loans to the company or to subscribe for deben· ture to be privately placed by it to the extent of Rs. 26.75 crore. Of this, Rs. 10.80 crore is for expansion of manufacturing facilities and

Rs. 15.95 crore for modernisation scheme.

One of the terms and conditions stipulated by LIC, UTI, GlC and its subsidiary companies for the grant of financial assistance for the company's expansion scheme prov­ides for an option in favour of these institutions to convert a part of

loan/debentures up to Rs. 120 lakh into 3,52,940 fully paid equity shares of the company of the face value of Rs. 10 each at premium of Rs. 24 per share. Such option will be exercised by the institutions any time during the period from August 1, 1985 to July 31, 1987.

The company has received disbursement approval from SICOM to the extent of Rs. 4.87 crore out of the eligibility for interest-free loan of about Rs. 10 crore meant for the ongoing project: To augment the long-term working capital res­ources, the company issued last year 15 per cent non-convertible debent­ures of Rs. 14 crore.

The tax authorities had filed an appeal to the Supreme Court again­st the judgement of Delhi high court granting the. company's writ petition against the rejection by the concer­ned authorities of the company's application to obtain the benefit of the tax losses and unabsorbed depreciation of the erstwhile Inter­national Tractor Company of India ~nder Section 72-A of the Income Tax Act. The Supreme Court has disposed of the appeal in the comp­any's favour.

During the first quarter of the curent year, the company has pro-

duced 6,512 vehicles and sold 5,222 vehicles as against 7,799 and 6,378 respectively in the same period of 1982-83. The decrease in the pro­duction and sales of vehicles as com­pared to the previous year, accord­ing to the directors, has been due to industrial unrest at some of the company's most important vendors.

They, however, expect the comp­any to be able to cover from this shortfall. Production and sales of tractors, were higher at 3,452 and 3,520 units as against 1,978 and 2,657 units, respectively, in the corresponding period last year.

(Business Standard, 23.3.84)

1\1 & M'S NEW TRACTOR

Bombay, May 28 : Mahindra and Mahindra will soon roll out a 1ew tractor International 550 for exports. This is being developed to meet the demand for higher horse power tractors for markets like Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Turkey.

The new tractors will be fitted with fuel-efficient German engine of the latest design. Meanwhile, a plan to assemble Mahindra vehicles is fast nearing completion on the out­skirts of Athens, Greece. This is a joint venture between Mahindra and Balkania SA.

It is an example of the growth and mutual benefit that results from a long standing dealer association. Slated t9 commence operations this year under M and M management, t 1e Jnd ian equipment has already r•'ached Greece and is being ins­talled. M and M has supplied a

60

large number of vehicles to Greece an they find extensive applications specially by the army and in agri­culture.

(Financial Express, 29.5.84)

KIRLOSKAR TRACTORS TURNS CORNER

Kirloskar Tractors is shifting manufacturing facilities for certain products to Sasward in Pune district about 22 kms away from the Hada­psar plant. The company has obtained permission of the Central Gm ernment for a change in the locatiOn. The Government of Maha­rashtra has recognised the Saswad unit as a pioneer unit under its pacl age &cheme of incentives.

~he State Industrial and Invest­ment Corporati on of Maharashtra (SICOM) has advanced to the com­pany a terms loan of 7 5 lakh for the Saswad unit. Also the ICICI has agreed to grant to it two foreign currency loans amounting to Japanese yen 233,668,000 and Japa­nese yen 207,536,850 or their res­pective equivalent in other foreign currencies for financing in part the imp rt of new machinery for its project at Sasward and for its works at Hadapsar, respectively.

The manufacturing operations at the Saswad unit are expected to be commenced during the current year. With the amalgamation of the erst­while Kirloskar Pneumatic Company with effect from July 1, 1982, the company has presented combined accou 1ts covering financial results of its tractor division for the year ended September, 1983 and of the penu atic division for 15 months

ended September, 1983. These ac­counts show a gross profit of Rs. 403 crore on a total turnover of Rs. 62.54 crorc as against a trading loss of Rs. 3.12 crorc on a turnover of Rs. 10.54 crore.

After depreciation of Rs 210.50 lakh (Rs. 69.19 lakh), there is a net profit of Rs. 201.38 lakh compared to previous year's net loss of Rs. 381.48 lakh. After taking into account some tax refunds ar d write back from development re ate re­. serve and making certai 1 othec adjustments, there is a disposable surplus ofRs. 123.48 lakh compared to accumulated deficit of Rs. 13.33 crore. Of this, the recommended dividend of 10 per cent will absorb Rs. 38.53 lakh (nil). The remaining surplus of Rs. 84.95 lakh is to be carried to the balance sheet

(Hindustan Times, 3.3.84)

MAKERS OF SWAR~J

Despite the loud pro ounce-. ments of technological self- reliance, the national policy makers had totally rejected the plan for setting up a tractor unit based on Indian know-how and technology. This was in 1969 when a senior decision maker scoffed at the very dea and remarked : "India cannot make a bolt on its own. Talking of indi­genous technology for tractors is just rot".

It was in March, 1974, that the Punjab Tractors Limited PTL), a public sector undertaking of tne Punjab State Industrial Develop­ment Corporation (PSIDC), was commissioned at Mohali a t a cost

of Rs. 3. 70 crore. The PSIDC had taken up the challenge in the face of overwhelming n~-.t io nal prejtdice against indigenous technology for Swaraj tractors. Not many people were confident about its marketmg performance.

Recalls Mr. Chandra Mohan, the dynamic young managing director of the concern, people used to say : "Awwal to banega hi nahin, agar banega to chalega nahin,. anr chalega to phir bikega nahin," ( <-mt of all it will not be manufactured, if manufactured it will not work and if it works it will not sell.

And today, looking back at those troublesome days, Mr. M han churns out statistics to show how well Swaraj tractor have been recei­ved by the farmers. More han 60,000 tractors and 220 harv~ster

combines are operating in hd ia which have been produced with complete Indian technology. Despite competing with 11 known inter­national makes, Swaraj tractors have recently introduced its third model Swaraj 855 of 59 horse powers

The two other well known models of PTL are : Swaraj 724 (26 HP) and Swaraj 735 (39 HP). The project was initially set up with a production capacity of 5,000 tractors, and was after expanded to 12,000 tractors lo meet the ever growing demand. These tractors have be~n develored entirely with the company's own R & D effort. There are more than 200 dealers with in and outside the country manned by officials trained at the company's training school.

Sl

The production of tractors, how ever, slumped in 1983 due to the credit SCJ,Ue eze imposed by the RBI, Mr. Chandra Mohan thinks that the unit would have done exceedingly well had the credit squeeze not come in at that crucial moment. Since tractors in India and for that matter throughout the world are bought on 9redit, the farmers could not help but wait. Tractors have recently been brought under the 20-point

programme.

Swaraj tractors constitute about 10 per cent of the tractor population of the country. The PTL entered the international market in 1978 by exporting tractors to Zambia and later to Tanzania, Sudan, Kenya, Ghana, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. These tractors were exported after extensive tests were made regarding the climatic conditions of the impor­ting country.

The PTL has won a number of national awards in the process, which include : National invention award 1972, National gold shield for import substitution 1975, IMM­Toshiba Anand marketing man of the year award 1979, and outstan" ing contributions for promotion of ancillarly units 1977.

The PTL with three divisions tractor, combine harvester and foundry are located in a radius of 30 km. Another major contribution of PTL in the agricultural field has been the introduction of Swaraj 8100, self-propelled harvester combine developed fully with its own R & D effort. The combines are manufactured in a small dusty village near Mohali.

Although the PTL is the sole manufacturer of harvester combines in the country, it has not been a smooth sailing for the combines manufactured by PTL. Under the garb of domestic manufacture in the small scale sector, a number of manufacturers had started importing virtually complete self-propelled harvester combines in a clandestine manner, Some others are planning to import components of tractors

from the Soviet Union and Romania to be assembled here.

The combine division of the PTL whicb went into commercial pro­duction in 1980-81 has an installed capacity of 25 combines per month. Since the market for combines, costing more than Rs. 5 lakh a piece, is restricted, the PTL combines had to face stiff competition f;om the ones imported from West Ger­many. Taking advantage of some loopholes in the import poli~y, a small-scale manufacturer sold about 237 combines until last year.

PTL is the largest engineering company in the region and has acti­vely encouraged the promotion of local ancillaries. More than 200 ancillary units have sprung up in and around Mohali largely catering to the Swaraj company. But since the credit squeeze of 1983, almost all of these units have diversified their working so that the dependence on tractors is reduced. '

Some of these units also cater to the Eicher tractor plant at Parwanoo and the HMT plant at Pinjore, both near Chandigarh. "The growth of Swaraj tractors is the saga of development," says Mr. Chandra

Mohan. We have now gone into light commercial vehicles in colla­boration with M/s. Toyo Kogyo of Japan for the manufacture of 10,000

'Mazda' vehicles annually. The manufactming plant of 'Mazda' is situated at Ropar. Forklift trucks are under production at present.

(Indian Express, 31.3.84)

KAMCO TO SERVICE KOBOTA TILLERS

The Kerala Agro-Machinery Corpn . (KAMCO), a State Govner­ment undertaking, decided to extend its activity to the servicing of KOBOT A' power tillers.

KAMCO has been manufactur­mg power tillers with Japanese colla­boration for about a decade now. It has so far manufactured about 8,000 tillers which have found good markets in Kerala, Tamil Nadu Karnataka and West Bengal. The Corporation will open sales service 1t Athani near Alwaye to be follo­wed by similar centres in other ~tates. Service centres will be man­ned by factory trained experts and will suply genuine parts to the farmers.

(Amrita Bazar Patrika, 10.3.84)

CHEAP COMBINE HARVESTER

Patiala : A self-propelled com­bine lwrvester has been built by a 'illage artisan of B'hadson, 30 km

1 rom here. The machine, whose working was demonstrated on a few farms in the di strict during the on going harvesting season, fulfils a ong-felt need. Because of.the low

52

price, it can be maintained by the village community and such humble inst itutions as cooperatives and panchayats.

The machine is fitted with a powerful Perkins P-4 55 h. p. engi­

ne. I has a 10.5 ft wide cutter bar. It is equipped with a straw walker­system that separates the last grain· fro m the straw.

The adjustment system is simple and free from complications. The mad ine requires low maintenance. It en harvest two to 2.5 acres of whe'lt or 1.5 to two acres of paddy in a '1 hour. Its annual output (in botl t rabi and kharif seasons is clai med to be I ,200 acres.

T 11e new combine harvester is reasonably priced at Rs. 2.10 lakh. And vhat is more, all parts used in it ~re indigenous. Other combine harvester manufactured in the coun­try have several imported compon­ents , nd are priced at Rs. 5.25 to 6.5 h kh. Their owners (they are mostly business men) ar0 oftc::n faced with the problem of getting replace­men s for the imported parts.

Mr. Amarjit Singh, who has

designed and manufactured the new combme harvester, is a pioneer in intr clueing the successful Kartar tractor-driven combine harvester, Bhadson type seed-cum-fertiliser drill and the reaper-thresher com­bine

H. was awarded a gold medial bv the 1 ransworld Trade Fair Selection Committee and his workm:mship and v sion received commenuation from the International Trade Fair Autl ority and Pantnagar Agricul· tura University.

The designer believes he owes a Jot for his success to the network of after-sales service he has rganised in vilJages. There is a big rush for advance booking of the Kartar com­bine harvester. Mr. Amarjit Singh says he will be able to supply about 50 machines before the next paddy harvesting season sets in.

He is proud of the fact that Bhadson has become a farm mach­ine town of Punjab where 17 village artisans have set up indus .rial units of the manufacture and supply of agricultural implements. These units provide employment to over 1,000 workers.

(Tribune, 27.4.84)

HARVESTER COMBINES RACKET IN UP -----

Faridabad, April 2 : Loopholes in the country's import policy have come as a big boon for the clande· stine "assemblers" of harvester combines registered as small scale manufacturers of · improved farm tools, including tractors and bio­ps plants.

The "Beneficiaries" of he faulty import policy according to an oftk:ially verified report, inc1ude some well-known tractor manufac­

, turing companies of northern India. These so-called indigenous manu­facturers of the harvester combines reportedly import the. e costly machines in semi-knocked condition (SKD) from various col.ntries of Europe for a pittance (in v ew of the fact that the farm tool industry in European countries is passing thro­ugh history's worst and longest ~ession and the manufacturers

there would sell even the most sophis-

ticated machines at a throw away price).

As the SKD kits are clubbed with "components and spares" under the import policy, the importer of these items is entitled to 40 per cent concession.

"These assembler- manufacturers of harvester combines," according to a Punjab government complaint, "have adversely affected the sale of the harvester combines manufactured by the Punjab Tractors Limited (PTL) a public sector undertaking".

Interestingly, the "imported har­vester com hines of a private firm of Punjab are marketed by an mter­national tractor manl!facturing company based in Haryana. The latter has also been setting SKD

based combines. In order to meet the demand of these machines from some of the agro-industrial corpora­tions and public sector farm organi­sations, the combines ha~ to be air lifted from a European country .

According to a DGTD source, with practically no expenditure involved in the assembly of the imported components, it costs the 'assembler' around Rs. 2.58 lakhs a piece that sells for about Rs. 4.50 lakhs (ex­factory) against Rs. 5 lakhs of the PTL manufactured combines. A West German " collaborator' ' of the clandestine assembly of combines told Business Standard that "it costs about Rs. 3.85 lakhs a piece to roll out one .harvester combine based on West German SKD."

What has surprised the "genuine indigenous manufacturers of the harvester combines is that despite

53

numerous complaints, including from members of Parliament and Cheif Ministers of some states, the DGTD and others concerned in the Union Government have not yet initiated any solid step to curb the clandestine import of SKD kits and components and assemble the same as combines to the peril of the indigenous industry.

At one stage it is learnt, the Union government had started the process of extending the provisons of Industries (Development and Regulation) Act and invoke the provisions of the Monopolies and Restricted Trade Practices Act to put a stop to the clandestine oper­ations of some big houses involved in the "manufacture" and "market­ing" of the SKD-based combines. The move is now reported to have been deferred.

Preliminary probes are believed to have found that the components of at least one brand of harvester combine were imported as bio-gas equipment". This and many other unlawful aspects of the trade had according to an official source, been_ brought to the Union industries ministry long back but no action has so far been taken to prevent the clandestine operations.

(Business Standard, 3.4.84)

NEED FOR H IGH-TECH FARM STRESSED

Bombay, May 19 : The need to evolve a strategy for developing high-technology pumps to meet the future requirement of the agricultuu sector, has been stressed bJ

Ur. &nat Mehta, Gujarat Finance Minister.

Inaugurating the annual general meeting of the Indian Pump Manu­facturers' Association here on Fri­day, be said there were good pros­pects for the domestic pump industry during the next five to six years as several chemical and petrochemical units would come up in Gujarat and other states.

As about 90 per cent of the 70 lakh pumps manufactured in the country were being used by the agri­culture sector and as this trend would continue, a variety of high­technology pumps would be needed, the Minister said.

Mentioning some of the steps taken by Gujarat to encourage energy-saving devices, he suggested that the other state governments should also consider granting some concessions for this purpose.

Referring to the downtrend of pump exports, Mr. Mehta said_ con­tinuous increase in the prices of in­

puts was one of the factors respon­sible for the decline in pump ex­ports.

The Union Government should, tkerefore, devise a package scheme

incentives to enable the domestic industry to become competitive in the world market, he suggested.

In his keynote speech, Mr. P. P. Latey, Director General of Technical

Development (DGTD), said there was good scope for the domestic pump industry to design energy­saving pumps and devices to help the farmers.

Itetferring to the Industry's com-

plaint about dumpin~ of imported pumps, Mr. Latey clarified that since the country's economy was opening up, import of pumps was allowed very judiciously and no dumping was allowed.

In many areas there was lot of scope for improving technology and the pump industry should itself do some introspection and called upon the large pump manufacturing units to share their technology with small and medium scale units to improve their operational efficiency.

Welcoming the chief guest, Mr. C. Saba, IPMA President, expressed concern about the trend of conti­nuing imports under the cover of project imports as the domestic in­dustry had established in many ins­tances that many of the imported pumps could have been supplied by indigenous manufacturers.

The offioading of a significant number of pumps into the country at ridiculously low prices by some developed countries was acting as a damper and DGTD should look into this matter carefully, he sugges­ted.

The President admitted that in­spite of tremendous advancement in technology, the domestic pump mdustry had not been able to take advantage of the dent made by it on the export front.

The recent developments had resulted in a decline in pump ex-

orts. The pump exports slumped from Rs. 20 crores in 19 81-82 to Rs. 18 crores in 1982-83 and to Rs. 13.5 crores during the period April to December 1983, he said.

(Financial Express, 20.5.84)

I IGATION EQUIPMENT PLAT Ar SONARPUR

Calcutta, March 16 : Oasis Irri­gation Equipment Company Ltd is setting up an irrigation equipment and domestic appliances manufac­tur ng project at Jagdal (Sonarpur) in 24 Parganas district. The project, wh ch is being set up in the declared backward area is expected to start production from April May this year

The company, which was incor­porated in August 1982 as a private lim ted company was converted to a public limited company in April last yea.-. The main objective of the company is to manufacture modern irrigation equipment such as sprink;­ler r rigation system, drip irrigation system, pump sets and domestic electrical appliances.

(Economic Times, 17.3.84)

·FIB CLEARS HM CATERPILLAR TIE· UP

ew Delhi, March 1 I :The high power Foreign Investment Board

(FIB) has cleared the proposal of the Birla owned Hindustan Motors to tak up the manufacture of the full range of earth moving equipment in collaboration with Caterpillar of the United States of America (USA).

With this approval, Hindustan Motors is perhaps the only auto· mobile manufacturing company in the country to have modernised its total range of products. It has all­rea y concluded a collaboration with Isuzu Motor company of Japan for mo ernisatioo and updating of its

technology for the manufac ure of passenger cars as also commercial vehicles.

And now with this approval, HM's earth moving equipment divi­sion located in Madras also tands modernised with a collaboration with none else but the world's leader in such range of equipment. It has an ongoing collaboration with De mag of West Germany for the manufacture of heavy hydrau ic ex­cavators.

According to official sources here Hindustan Motors has already been producing earth moving equ pment in collaboration with IBH of West Germany. However the co pany was not doing well in this because of problems faced by its collabo­rators and as such its market posi­tion in earth moving equipment was deteriorating.

This forced the company t look for an alternative collaborat r and it succeeded in locating Caterpillar. It sought the goveniment's permi­ssion to change the collabora or.

The source said Hindustan Motor's success in roping in Cater-

pillar has come at an opp rtune moment when the country has been resorting to large imports of cater­pillar equipment under one pretex or the other. A large num er of Caterpillar machines have been coming into the country mainly under the World Bank financed pro­jects on global tendering basis.

At least now the country would be able to offer from indigenous­sources the Caterpillar ·machines a&ai•st such global tenders which

will mean foreign earnings as deemed exports, they said.

Under this latest approval Hind­ustan Motors have also got highly advantageious terms in the collabo­ration agreement for it will be liable to pay a lumpsum payment of only US S 720,000 and royalty at a rate of 5 per cent spread over seven )'ears. These terms are said to be even better than its earlier collaborator IBH of Germany, they said.

And the company will be gettmg the authorisation for the manufac­ture of the entire range of equip­ment wheeled tractors dozers trac­tors, front end loaders 1. 5 cubic yards capacity going up to 5 cub1c yards capacity loaders and dumpers.

The company has a total capa­city of 630 earth moving equipment per annum. Its only other compe­titor, Bharat .Earth Movers Limited, (BEML) on a capacity of 1060 per annum enjoyed a virtual monopoly in the domestic market. The only advantage to BEML so far was its collaboration agreement w th Komatsu of Japan.

However, now balance of adv' n­tage will swing in favour of Hindus­tan Motors because of the collabo­ration agreement with Caterpil t r of US, which enjoys a world wide reputation. Even in India there IS

greater preference for this make of equipment.

Besides, the greatest advantage to the cosumer will flow from the HM's lat!:'st collaboration since Caterpillar has agreed . to not only transfer the technology to HM for

tke manufacture of the equipment

55

but also the manufacture of the engines and the transmission lines. This is not the case in respect of BEML-Komatsu.

Presently Caterpiller equipment are being imported by the mining sector, irrigation projectc;, cement plants, power plants and the .like under the World Bank contracts.

(Economic Times, 12.3.84)

GOOD SCOPE FOR EXPORT OF PUMPS TO AUSTRIA

Calcutta, May, 16 ~Indian Pumps have got a big potential in Austrian market and the Indian manufac­turers should make concerted efforts to establish direct contracts with the importers and manufacturers in Austria.

This has been indicated in a report on Austrian pump market

prepared by the Vienna office of the Engineering Export Promotion Council. The report covers all types of pumps for agricultural and indus­trial applications, including centri­fugal pumps, vertical pu mps pro­peller pumps, mixed flow pumps, piston pumps, rotor pumps and sub­mersible slurry pumps.

According to the report, India has not so far exported any pumps to Austria. A few Indian firms had sent their catalogues to some impot­ters, but they have not visited any Austrian buyers nor displayed their pumps at Austrian exhibitions. Recently, one Calcutta based firm has received a trial order for subm­ersible pumps through the effort of the EEPC office.

Under the Austrian GSP scheme import of pumps from India enjoys a tariff concession to the extent of 50 per cent of the MFN rate as against import from non-GSP ben­eficiary countries like Japan, East Europe.

However import from EEC and EFT A countries is absolutely sub­ject to zero duty. The import duty of pumps from India is 5.7 per cent only whereas in the case of Japan and East Europe, it is 11.4 per cent.

The report has mentioned that the Indian firms should send their illustrative and technical product catalogues, price lists etc. directly to Austrian importers and visit them personally. In add;tion, they shorild also visit Austrian pumps manufacturers and also the Austrian firms specialised in East-West trade.

The EEPC report has mentioned that the Indian firms should also participate in Austrain fairs like the international autumn fair that takes place in Vienna in September this year. Participation in this fair would not only acquaint the Austrian buy­ers about Indian capability in supplying pumps, valves and other parts thereof to the Austrian market but also help them in establishing direct rapport with the Austrian buyers.

It has been pointed out that such contacts might also lead to cooper-

at on possibilities with Austrian pumps manufacturers. In addition, it has been suggested that the Indian pump manufacturers should engage c;ome importers in Austria as their agents to introduce their pumps in the Austrian market.

(Economic Times, 17.5.84)

INDO-JAPANESE PROJECTS '\fAKE HEADWAY

Madras, March 19 : VST Tillers and Tractors, Bangalore, a leading manufacturer for the small farmer, is one of such projects.

VST Tillers and Mitsubishi of Japan entered into an agreement in 1967 for the manufacture of power­tillers in the country with a 25 per cent equity capital participation by the Japanese company. Mitsubishi's collaboration has been complete from the sharing of manufacturing know-how to passing of blue-prints and specifications supplemented by th e presence of its engineers.

The power tillers now being turned out are fully indigenous. They were demonstrated at the Indo-Japanese Agricultural Centre, Mandya, Kar&ataka. A joint venture of the Karnataka Agricultural Dep· artment and the Japanese govern­ment in the field of agriculture had started in 1965.

The farm's aim has been to train

56

small farmers in the use of power tillers and adoption of farm mach_ inery, their repair and maintenance and conducting trials of advanced rice cultivation techniques. Despite three agreements lasting till 1975 the farm has failed to achieve ita objectives.

The advanced rice cultivation technique also did not click with the conservative Indian farmer who was put off by the elaborate drain­age system applied by the Japanese.

The farm is a mere showpiece now and the officials there are clamour­ing f, r the revival of the agreement with the Japanese.

Except for the Mandya Agricul­tural Farm, the flow of Japanese technology and its adaptation to suit the Indian market has proved to be more than successful. Alona with the technical know-how, the subtle nuances of Japanese manage­ment have also seeped to the advan­tage f the Indian companies which C<)uld probably be one of the reasons for the near ideal harmonious relationship prevailing even in large companies like Nippon and HMT.

If only the participating Indian companies took care to develop their own spare-part tooling centre the o er dependence, on the Japan· ese countrerparts for outdated spares could be effectively solved.

(Indian Express, 20.3.8if)

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PRODUCTION & SALES FIGURES OF INDIGENOUS TRACTORS FOR THE MONTHS·OF MAY lcJUNE 1984'

May June Name of the firm Make/Model Prod. Sales Prod. Sales

Auto Tractors Ltd., Pratap 284 25 30 Figures not Received Pratapgarh Eicher Goodearth Ltd. Goodearth 241 970 959 808 818 Faridabad 242 540 501 399 552 Escorts Ltd , E 330 270 230 139 218

Faridabad E 335 ADDC 621 631 71 ~ 815 E 345 ADDC 179 181 157 203 E 355 117 133 147 165

Escorts Tractors Ltd, Ford 3600 802 1201 752 751 Faridabad Gujarat Tractors Corpn. HWD 50 102 102 65 34 Ltcl., Vadodara G 453 115 62 113 62

G 614 29 29 11 11 HMT Ltd., Pinjore 2511 3 75 379 310 310

3511 525 475 590 580 5911 101 96 100 110

Harsha Tractprs Ltd. , T-25 3 16 8 7 Loni, Ghaziabad Kirloskar Tractors Ltd., D 4009 K 210 151 Figures

Nasik Road D 6006 K 2 Not D 10006 K Received

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., B-275 1074 1140 1207 1290 Bombay 444 101 62 168 161

Pittie Tractors Ltd. , 2500 E FIGURES NOT RECEIVED Pune 4500 E

Punjab Tractors Ltd., Swaraj 735 333 391 223 422 SAS Nagar 720 263 195 159 133

855 55 52 69 68 .../

Tractor & Farm Equipment MF 1035 605 619* 831 482 Ltd, Madras 245 60 54 46 44

United Auto Tractor, u 445 FIGURES NOT RECEIVED New Delhi U 650M ,, , ,

7472 7675 7020 2736

Prices (Rs.) as on 30-6-14

Not received.

48,700.00 50,100.00 56,178.00 64,722.00 66,146.00 79,900.00 91,501.00

89,995.00 86,495.00 96,995.00 57,199.00 68,131.00 93,205.00 61,340.00

~1,955.00

1,69,738.00 4,25,340.00

70,940.00 76,614.00

69,110.00 44,300.00 85,270.00

82,511.00 1,09,940.000

Includes sale of 31 No. Deluxe Model Tractors (Soutte: TMA, New Delhi)

57