Mahindra & Mahindra eyes overseas markets for growth

Mahindra & Mahindra says its farm equipment division head Rajesh Jejurikar is on a mission. And the mission resonates with that of the government.

"We will look at doubling the income of farmers," says the 52-year old. The nation's largest SUV and tractor maker wants to bring the latest farming technologies to India, and see how to customise those for the benefit of the Indian farmer, including the one whose landholding is marginal.

While the company is bullish on India, for growth, it is looking global, where the market for tractors and other farm equipment is worth more than $150 billion a year. At home, the tractor market is just $6 billion, while that for other agriculture equipment is even smaller.

In 2011-12, Jejurikar, then the chief executive of automotive division, left Mahindra after the blockbuster launch of the XUV 500, to join media firm Zee Entertainment as its president and try out something different. He returned barely 10 months later, to lead the farm equipment division, where again his mandate was to do things differently.

Mahindra was already the global No. 1 in terms of tractor sales, yet the company was addressing just the home and a few overseas markets. As much as 95% of the division's revenue came from tractor sales in India. That was a risk.

India is too dependent on monsoon rains with about two-thirds of its farmland having no irrigation facilities. Farming, and so sales of farm equipment, takes a hit when not enough rains fall. Droughts have become more frequent in recent years than in the past.

Mahindra had to look at ways of derisking the operation. Going global and expanding further into farm mechanisation from just tractors were among the options. In a recent interaction with ET, Jejurikar called it "expanding of the pond".

Mahindra India