Sustaining the market leadership: Mahindra Tractors' Sanjeev Goyle

Since the take over of PTL by Mahindra & Mahindra in 2007, Sanjeev Goyle, Chief Marketing Officer for the Farm Equipment Sector (FES) Tractor Division) and Applitrac division looks after the Brand and Product Management of both brands i.e. Mahindra & Swaraj. The Swaraj Brand has improved it’s market share from 9.3% to 12% in the last 3 years. 

To get some more insights Adgully met Sanjeev Goyle, Sr. Vice President, Marketing & AppliTrac, Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, recently. Giving an overview of the tractor industry, Goyle said, “Currently the market size of tractors in the country is 5.25 lakh units. India happens to be the largest market for tractors and we hold 40 per cent market share. We have been the leaders in the market for the last 30 years.” He further added that it is a very competitive market with fourteen players.”

Speaking about growth, he said, “Last year industry growth was to the tune of 1.5 per cent, this year the first quarter has been exceptionally good, with a growth of 26% in Q1 - F14. We anticipate industry growth of 6 to 8 per cent in F14.”

“When it comes to the tractor market, there are some brands which hold popularity in the northern market and some in southern market but in our case we have a national presence and acceptability. We have acquired Punjab Tractors Ltd. and we sell Mahindra and Swaraj brand of tractors and therefore we continue to dominate the market.” Says Goyle.
The tractors are manufactured from seven locations namely - Mumbai, Nagpur, Rudrapur, Jaipur, Mohali (Plant I & II) and the newly launched Asia’s largest plant which is in Zaheerabad, Andhra Pradesh.

With every industry facing a technological shift, the tractor industry too is no different. However Mahindra has been quick to read future trends in the tractor industry and stay ahead of the curve. Elaborating on the same, Goyle says, “Being a leader we have the capacity to be at the forefront, leading the change in the industry. These include the introduction of fuel efficient DI engines, the first turbo engine, entering into the turbo technology category, the introduction of AC cabin tractors with Turbo, the entire range is available with GPRS technology, reasonably priced tractor Yuvraj 215 for the small and marginal farmers or the introduction of the first multi utility tractor with built in trolley, ‘Shaan’.”

Low mechanization and fragmented and small size of land holding are the challenges that exist. The rural youth today is interested in the urban way of living and is losing interest in farming; this is a grave issue that the industry is grappling with.

Despite the challenges, the company continues to Deliver Farm Tech Prosperity, a vision the company holds. The company started transforming their dealerships into Mahindra Samriddhi centres in the year 2009 to provide the farmers with knowledge on innovative farming technologies and soil testing facilities. Mahindra also delivers knowledge updates on the weather, crops, eradication of pests and diseases, and mandi (agricultural markets) locations and prices. Currently 160 dealerships have been transformed into Samriddhi Centers.

The group aggressively uses all the marketing tools to connect with its target audience. Says Goyle, “The marketing spend is split in the ratio of 55:45 between ATL & BTL including outdoors. Within the ATL the ratio between television and print is 50:50. The genre of television channels targeted for advertising are, films, news, agri and some sports channels, mainly cricket which is the most loved sport played in the country.”

As for the digital strategy, Goyle said, “We thought of connecting with the youth through mobiles and internet rather than with the farmers as the former are users of these mediums. We are using digital and mobile effectively.”

Specifying the reason behind choosing Mahesh Babu as the brand ambassador, he said, “The whole aspect is to bring the youthfulness and vibrancy into the brand. And what can be the better than the fact that we have a brand ambassador who actually epitomizes that. Mahesh Babu has been connected to urban and rural in the same fashion. In the TVC we have showcased him as a super star like our brand Mahindra. Mahindra has been extremely successful in Andhra Pradesh and through this campaign we aimed at strengthening this relationship further.” he concluded.