German farm equipment maker Lemken GmbH, which specialises in pre-harvesting implements such as reversible ploughs, plans to make India its export hub to cater to markets in Asia and Africa.

Lemken, which set up a manufacturing unit in Nagpur with an investment of Rs 60 crore last year, expects to start exports to south China and African countries from next year, said Anthony Van Der Ley, CEO, Lemken GmbH.

The 232-year-old German firm also plans to set up a small design team of about eight engineers in India taking advantage of the engineering skills here to customise its products for the local market.

“We are looking at India from a long-term perspective and the market here holds a major potential,” Ley said.

In its first year of operations, Lemken India sold over 350 hydraulic reversible ploughs, which cost around Rs 1.8 lakh each, almost three times higher than mechanical ploughs. Lemken’s equipment is used along with tractors.

The company is targeting to sell 1,000 ploughs next year and also plans to introduce other equipment such as disc harrow, which is used to cut, mix and mulch soil and seed drills among others.

“We use a highly specialised alloy boron steel that enhances the life of our equipment to a great extent, making it more expensive than conventional ones,” said Arvind Kumar, MD and CEO of Lemken India Agro Equipment Pvt Ltd. Currently, Lemken’s products are sold in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, while the company is looking at other States such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

Kumar said the Government should look at extending subsidy, being offered to farm equipments, to technology-intensive farm implements, such as hydraulic reversible ploughs to give a push farm mechanisation.

> viswanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in

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