Electric tractor sales barely take off even with state sops as farmer awareness remains low

Electric tractor sales have remained negligible even in states such as Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana, which offer incentives such as direct subsidies, road and registration tax waivers, and manufacturing benefits.

Haryana offers a ₹5 lakh subsidy on e-tractors in its 2022 EV policy, yet only one unit has been sold in FY26. In Maharashtra, where the prices of e-tractors and other integrated harvesting machines are cut by 10%, only 11 such units have been sold in this fiscal.

No e-tractor has been sold this fiscal in Madhya Pradesh, where they are exempt from motor vehicle registration tax and registration fees. The same was the case in Punjab, which highlighted manufacturing sops in its EV policy.

In Andhra Pradesh, the state government planned to provide a 5% price cut on e-tractors under its 2024-29 EV policy. Telangana has removed the road tax and registration fees for e-tractors under its EV purchase sops.

In the other states, four e-tractors each were sold in Goa and Uttar Pradesh, three in Tamil Nadu and one each in Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

There are other factors at play, too, such as the price of e-tractors and technological and infrastructural reasons. A 45-horsepower diesel tractor costs about ₹8 lakh, while an electric model in this category could cost as much as ₹15 lakh.

Sub-30 horsepower

Diesel tractors with output of 30 to 50 horsepower are the most popular of the almost 1 million tractors sold in India every year. Most e-tractors have sub-30 horsepower output, meaning they can be used only for small farming operations.

“Farming operations require high torque. The current technology struggles to provide the power and endurance required for long hours of field work, especially in heavy tilling or multi-acre farms,” said A S Mittal, president of the Tractor and Mechanization Association.

He added that frequent charging interrupts operations and reduces productivity, unlike diesel tractors that can run continuously for hours.

Higher-powered e-tractors are still largely in development. Such models need larger batteries that need to be fitted into tractor designs. However, Thane-based AutoNxt Automation, founded in 2016, has developed 45 horsepower and 60-horsepower e-tractors, according to its website.

Charging is another issue for farmers. Although they can charge tractors at home, grid-related issues such as power cuts and overall lack of connectivity often plague rural areas. While the power requirements for e-tractors are similar to comparable EVs, the components used such as connectors are different for each e-tractor model due to lack of standardization.

Larger tractor makers have waited to launch their electric models because they are unsure of the uptake, said Amit Bhatt, India director of the International Council on Clean Transportation.

Mahindra & Mahindra, TAFE, Sonalika, Escorts, and John Deere India together command an 80% share of India’s diesel tractor market. Among them, Sonalika introduced the Sonalika Tiger Electric in November 2022, while TAFE launched its electric tractor in Germany in November 2023.

“But newer manufacturers, often startups, have developed some smaller models which have multiple use-cases. The problem for them is the difficulty in claiming incentives from state governments, as the procedure for that may be more complicated,” he said.

Growth potential

Powerland Agro Tractor Vehicles Pvt Ltd, TI Clean Mobility Pvt Ltd, Unique Enterprises and Vyomev Motors Pvt Ltd have sold electric tractors in the country this year, according to the Vahan registry of vehicles. Chennai-based TI Clean Mobility, a part of the Murugappa group, acquired e-tractor maker Celestial E-Mobility in 2023.

Still, given the importance of agriculture in India’s economy and the government’s drive to reduce emissions, there is potential for e-tractors in the country.

India is the largest tractor manufacturer in the world by volume, with about 45% of global production. Agriculture accounts for about 13% of the country’s diesel usage, of which tractors make up a little over 7%, according to a Consumer Unity & Trust Society (Cuts) study published in January 2025.

“The environmental impact of diesel-powered tractors remains a critical concern, particularly emissions of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx),” Cuts said in the study, which was based on 200 surveys in Rajasthan.

Only 1% of the farmers surveyed had excellent awareness of e-tractors, indicating lack of information as a key challenge in adoption.

The Cuts study showed that farmers considered the resale value and the brand of the manufacturer while buying an e-tractor, with only 8% of them considering the cost of the e-tractor as “extremely high.” Farmers indicated that the tractor’s capacity to do heavy-duty operations was a key factor in buying a new e-tractor.

Also, 40% of respondents in the Cuts study rated the prospects for growth in the electric tractor market—driven by the establishment of low-emission zones in certain areas—as “high”, indicating the potential for regulation to drive future demand in the sector.