19 Jan 2023 09:28

KTZ to start building light, medium duty farm tractors in partnership with India's ITL in March - authorities

CHEBOKSARY. Jan 19 (Interfax) - Concern Tractor Plants (KTZ) will begin manufacturing farm tractors under a special investment contract (SPIC 2.0) in March in partnership with India's International Tractors Limited (ITL), the press service of Chuvashia's leader said.

ITL has come in to replace a previously planned partnership with Italian company Same Deutz-Fahr, the press release said.

The project was discussed at a meeting between the leader of Chuvashia, Oleg Nikolayev, representatives of the Indian company and MIG KTZ LLC deputy CEO for farm machinery Murad Karadzhayev, who is also CEO of MIG KTZ's wholly owned subsidiary Volzhsky Combine Plant LLC.

Karadzhayev said a multiuse line for semi-knocked-down assembly with capacity to produce up to 1,000 tractors per year was set up at the Volzhsky plant last year and agreements were reached with ITL on using a color palette and branding in the corporate style of Agromash, the brand under which KTZ sells farm machinery. Measures required for the implementation of a SPIC 2.0 were carried out.

"Anticipated revenue will already total more than 1.7 billion rubles this year," Karadzhayev was quoted as saying.

The plant is expected to produce more than 16,000 light and medium duty farm tractors by 2031.

The first tractor is scheduled to be unveiled at the Innoprom Central Asia international industrial exhibition that will be held in Tashkent on April 24-26.

ITL vice president and sales director Ashish Segal said at the meeting that Russia is a strategically important partner for his company and that the project will hopefully be a success.

The Agromash website said that the new terms of the SPIC 2.0 in which the foreign partner is leading Indian wheeled tractor maker ITL (Solis brand) were agreed with Russia's Industry and Trade Ministry in December 2022. KTZ production facilities and competencies will be used to produce the new farm machinery and there are plans to work with Russian component manufacturers, the site said.

The Industry and Trade Ministry, Chuvashia, Cheboksary administration and KTZ initially concluded the SPIC 2.0 to introduce technology for manufacturing farm tractors with 40-90 hp in June 2021.

The project, which involved localizing production of tractors in Chuvashia in partnership with Italy's Same Deutz-Fahr, initially called for building a production line with capacity of up to 8,000 tractors per year at an estimated cost of more than 2 billion rubles.

KTZ plants manufactured light and medium duty tractors in the past, but these competencies were lost. Now KTZ has all the necessary resources and competencies to build tractors, as well as its own service and sales centers, and produces Category 3 drawbar tractors. KTZ sells farm machinery under the Agromash brand.

KTZ, the civilian plants of which are concentrated in Chuvashia, manufactures machinery for the mining industry, road and infrastructure construction, the oil and gas sector, railway sector and agriculture. KTZ plants are run by Transport Components.