After a slow 10 months, Escorts – one of India’s largest tractor makers – reported a 1.2% growth in tractor sales in India during January this year compared to the same month of 2019.
The growth indicates a slight increase in the company’s sales trends compared to the rest of the financial year so far.
For example, for the first ten months of the financial year ending March 2020, total sales in India have been down 8%.
Escorts sold 5,845 tractors in India during January, compared to 5,762 in January of 2019.
Including exports, the total figure was 6,063, versus 5,991 last year.
However, for the first ten months of 2019-20, total India sales was 68,975 versus 74,974 — a fall of 8%.
Tractor sales are a good indicator of the health of the farming economy.
India has been going through a economic slowdown over the past one year, accentuated by worries about an impending recession.
This has affected sales of big ticket items such as vehicles, houses and jewelry.
A recent study by image consulting firm Edelman found that Indians are significantly more worried about losing their jobs than people in any other country.
80% from India felt that they might lose their job due to a coming recession, according to the survey, while the figure was closer to 60-65% in most countries.
Nevertheless, trends have indicated a gradual uptick in sentiment in the last two-three months, as demonstrated by a return to growth for auto sales.