Tractor sales to be hit as second Covid wave impacting rural areas: Escorts
Unlike in the first phase (of Covid-19) where the impact was not at all there in the rural market, this time it is all very spread out.
New Delhi: With the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hitting rural areas, tractor sales will be impacted in the short term although in the second half of the fiscal it is likely to pick up to give the industry a mid-single-digit growth, according to a senior official of farm equipment major Escorts Ltd.
The company, which has a joint venture with Japan’s Kubota, is looking at around 55 % growth in exports in 2021-22 with Europe serving as one of the main drivers while it plans to enter markets in South East Asia and Brazil through its partner.
“Unlike in the first phase (of Covid-19) where the impact was not at all there in the rural market, this time it is all very spread out. It is impacting not only the urban area, (but) channel partners and dealerships are also closed because of lockdown in states. Clearly, this will have an impact, it is more severe and it is going to have an impact on everyone,” Escorts Ltd Group CFO Bharat Madan told the media.
He was responding to a query on how the second wave of the pandemic is likely to impact tractor sales.
“I think in the short term this will have an impact. Q1 will definitely bear the major brunt of this but in the second half we should see demand coming back like last time, we had a good pent-up demand after lockdown,” he added.
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