Harish Chavan Talks about the journey of Swaraj Tractors, their New Multipurpose Machine ‘CODE’ & much more

Swaraj was established in 1974 with a mission to be self-reliant and it is currently the second largest tractor brand in India. Swaraj based out of Punjab offers multiple farming solutions and has a wide range of tractors from 11.18 kW to 48.47 kW (15Hp-65Hp) for various farming needs including their new multipurpose farm machine CODE.  

However, this Multi-crore brand had a humble beginning. The birth of Swaraj Tractors dates back to 1960s, during the time of Green Revolution when the government was promoting mechanization extensively to meet the food demand of the rapidly increasing Indian population. The Government was keenly looking towards Indian companies for mechanization as most players in the tractor category were foreign based and were too costly for the Indian market. Swaraj Tractors were the only indigenously developed tractors to contribute to the green revolution by developing tractors which were designed to address the needs of Indian farmers and were far more affordable than higher priced imported tractor brands.

MC Dominic, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Krishi Jagran & Agriculture World interacted with Harish Chavan, the CEO of Swaraj Division- Mahindra & Mahindra Limited who has been associated with Mahindra & Mahindra for over two decades.

During the course of this interaction, Chavan talked at length about the story of Swaraj Tractors, the current status of Farm mechanization in India, and its role in the modernization & commercialization of agriculture in India.

Swaraj Tractors- Freedom of Millions of Farmers from Expensive Tractor Imports

Chavan told the first indigenously developed tractor was very rightly named Swaraj, signifying economic liberty, as it actually meant freedom of millions of farmers of India from the expensive Tractor imports.

In 2007, Swaraj became a part of Mahindra Group and has been growing and winning the hearts of the people ever since. It is the 2^nd largest tractor brand and therefore enjoys very high brand recognition.

Made by the Farmers, For the Farmers.

Commenting on the strength of Swaraj Tractors, Chavan said, “We are based in Punjab which is the Heartland of Agriculture, so in a way most of our engineers are connected to farming in one way or the other. Therefore, they understand the real-life problems of Agriculture very well and probably that’s what gives us strength and uniqueness.”

On being asked about the secret of the continuous growth that the brand Swaraj has been witnessing, Chavan said, “The only thing that keeps us going is the trust that the farmers of India have instilled in us. Apart from that after becoming a part of the Mahindra group, we are investing heavily on the product development and technology aspect that helps us become better. Moreover, simplicity and frugality have always been the strength of Swaraj Tractors”.

The Proud Endorser of Atmanirbhar Bharat

Swaraj Tractors also take pride in saying that their tractors are 100% made in India products, so much so, that they even have their own foundry that manufactures iron. There’s no other Tractor Manufacturer in India that cast their own metal!

Swaraj’s New Multipurpose Machine CODE:

Highlighting the importance of mechanization for Indian Agriculture, Harish Chavan commented “Western countries are ahead in terms of farm mechanization, however the Government of India is taking steps in the right direction and we have been improving year on year. We believe there is still a long way to go. If you see 30% of India’s Agri GDP is contributed by Horticulture it is growing very rapidly, but the area cultivated is only 17%; which shows that there is large scope for the Indian horticulture sector to grow and Farm Mechanization is the only way to achieve our aspirations.”

Swaraj realized the importance of Horticulture and is trying to bring new solutions for its development where currently there is not much mechanization; In order to address this gap, last year in the month of November Swaraj launched their multipurpose machine, CODE -   an indigenously designed farm mechanisation solution, conceived with the idea of eliminating drudgery of labour involved in horticulture farming.

Harish Chavan added, “there is no machine to address farmers needs in the horticulture segment, even the smallest tractor cannot be used due to its size and the small row spaces where vegetables like Cucumber and fruits like Papaya are grown. So in a sense, this is an innovation done by our engineers, and when the Govt. of India saw our innovation, they created a special category for us and soon facilities like subsidies, will be now be available for this machine.”

Swaraj CODE is a narrow and lightweight machine specifically meant to fit through the narrow rows of horticulture farms to allow farmers to carry out their operations without fear of uprooting the vegetables and fruits. CODE will soon be available in Swaraj dealerships in Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana and soon roll-out across other states as well in a phased manner.

It comes with a 11.1 horsepower Petrol engine; additionally, it has a great manoeuvrability due to its shorter turning radius and bidirectional driving which helps farmers manoeuvre between the rows of the farms easily. 

Due to the multifunctional ability to perform reaping/ harvesting, puddling, spraying, etc, the Government of India has identified it as a different category of Agriculture implements altogether. Soon the subsidies will also be for the same.

For more information you may visit: https://codebyswaraj.com/en