Sonalika tractor sales up 10.7% at 4,516 units in December

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International Tractors Ltd (ITL) today reported 10.7 per cent increase in sales at 4,516 units in December as against 4,080 units in the same month of previous year.

The company, which sell Sonalika brand of tractors, said its sales in the April-December period of the ongoing fiscal stood at 63,205 units, a growth of 15.8 per cent as compared to the year-ago period.

Commenting on the sales performance, Sonalika ITL Executive Director Raman Mittal said good monsoons during the year led to a buoyant tractor industry.

"The country witnessed two major policy changes, demonetisation and GST. After demonetisation, industry de-grew by 13.5 per cent in November 2016...With the cash flow situation improving and other factors being conducive, farmers again started purchasing tractors," he added.

On the outlook, he said India offers huge opportunity for the tractor industry as tractor availability at 20 per 1,000 hectare is quite low. "While India has 670,000 villages, industry-wide sales have never crossed the number of one sale per village in a year, hence the potential to grow is huge," Mittal said.