Raman
Mittal, Executive Director, Sonalika Group, said the company achieved an 18.6%
growth in May 2020 sales despite the challenging situation. The company rolled
out a host of initiatives to strengthen its bond and trust with its channel
partners, customers and community, he said. Initiatives included industry’s
first online disbursal of incentives for dealer sales team, extension of
warranty and renewal period, service & spare parts availability with
standby tractor for customers, sanitisation drive with its heavy duty tractors
across different states, set up Isolation Centres in hospitals and distributed
food & health kits to the migrant workers and daily wage earners,
introduced advanced ventilator system to build up Community bonding with the brand
and together with the Delhi government got the Corona Testing Mobile Clinic. “We
were the first tractor brand to have got the plant operational,” he said.
He
added, “For the farmers, the real currency is their crops. Tractors play a very
important role in the farmer’s life to enhance his productivity from the given
set of his land. Farmers are majorly oriented towards application based farming
like puddling, mulching, baler application, orchards, horticulture etc. Paddy
being the major Kharif crop, we are seeing a demand rise for customised
tractors which will be able to address these specialised needs. Along with the
demand for tractors, the demand for specialised implements is also expected to
go up”.
The
Sikander series now contributes to 75-80% in entire Sonalika portfolio, that
too within 2 years of its launch. Mittal said that Sonalika is a leading brand
in more than 50 HP segment and is targeting to achieve leadership position in
more than 40HP segment as well, with the launch of 4 new next-gen series
tractors viz. Tiger (Designed in Europe), Sikander DLX (10 Deluxe features),
Mahabali (Puddling special for Telengana) and Chhatrapati (For Maharashtra).
These new tractors are the 1st of its kind in India which will offer customisation
that will address the local needs of farmers.
These new tractors are expected to contribute 20-25% of volumes in our
overall sales.