Why aren’t e-tractors being sold in India? And how can policy support and manufacturer efforts advance the state of the market?
There’s no doubt that e-tractors bring many benefits. They reduce emissions while saving diesel costs for farmers. Because they also produce less noise and vibrations, e-tractors can also reduce hearing loss and mitigate multiple health risks from long-term use of diesel tractors.
The PM E-DRIVE scheme’s initial press release mentioned incentives for “other emerging EVs,” but purchase incentives for e-tractors have yet to be notified by the Ministry of Heavy Industries. In the meantime, state EV policies are leading the way.
Andhra Pradesh’s EV policy offers a subsidy of 5% on the purchase of an e-tractor that costs ₹8 lakhs or less. Subsidies can indeed be useful, especially as the ICCT’s analysis in 2022 showed the upfront cost of an e-tractor was double that of a similar diesel tractor. However, most e-tractors are priced above ₹8 lakhs, and no one has thus far taken advantage of the subsidy.
Madhya Pradesh’s EV policy takes a different approach and exempts e-tractors from the motor vehicle tax and registration fees. Haryana’s EV policy has the most lucrative incentive in the country—it offers a 50% subsidy (up to ₹5 lakhs) on the cost of an e-tractor. However, even in Haryana, no e-tractor has claimed the subsidy since the policy was notified in May 2022. This raises a question of supply.There are e-tractor manufacturers in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Telangana, Haryana, and Maharashtra. As of May 2025, there are at least three manufacturers with the AIS 168 safety standard certification that was notified by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in January 2021. This certification is necessary to sell e-tractors in India and the three are AutoNxt Automation, which produces a 45 hp tractor, Shree Marut E-Agrotech, which makes a 28 hp tractor, and TI Clean Mobility, which manufactures a 27 hp tractor. There are others in pilot production phases, including 50 hp and 75 hp e-tractors from Moonrider AI, and 35–50 hp e-tractors from Bullwork mobility from Bengaluru. Still other manufacturers are offering e-tractors under 18 hp, like Cygnus Motors in Gujarat and Sukoon Solutions in Uttar Pradesh.At the same time, there have been limited efforts on e-tractors from mainstream diesel tractor market leaders. This matters because models being sold by mainstream tractor manufacturers would be expected to encourage a larger pool of farmers to explore the technology. For the startups, the ability to tap the existing demand will likely require pilots and a better understanding of how e-tractors fit in the agriculture ecosystem and the ways in which e-tractors improve farmers’ work.
To help, the ICCT is currently studying the real-world energy savings that e-tractors offer over diesel tractors for farmers in Haryana. We’re piloting 28–60 hp e-tractors from multiple manufacturers across eight agriculture applications. Diesel tractors in Haryana are typically used for tilling, sowing, threshing of the crop and then cutting, lining, rolling and stacking crop residue.
Our work shows that diesel consumption for any typical tractor varies across applications. While ploughing could consume about 6 L/hr, sowing seeds just consumes about 1 L/hr. It’s similar for crop residue management; cutting of the residue, lining it, and stacking rolls of crop residue consumes about 2–3 L/hr, much less than the 9 L/hr consumed by rolling of the residue with a baling machine. The baling machine requires at least a 60 hp tractor to operate.
The fuel economies also differ by crop, and transport applications of agriculture are the most diverse. Both harvest and crop residue are transported using tractors, and tractors are also used for transportation of inputs to the field like animal fodder, fertilizers, water tanks, and more. The fuel economy can vary from 4–8 L/km, depending on the load. Tractors are also used extensively in horticulture. In Haryana, wheat, paddy and crop residue management will need bigger e-tractors (45 hp or more), but smaller (28–45 hp) e-tractors can easily cater to the needs of crops like sugarcane, transport of agriculture inputs, and horticulture.
A growing body of evidence of the ability of e-tractors to meet farming requirements and reduce costs could push e-tractor adoption. Meanwhile, e-tractor manufacturers can do more to leverage the conducive policies in states like Haryana and need not wait for the Centre to announce incentives.
As more state governments consider including e-tractors in EV policies, robust evidence from pilots will help them draft effective policies. Increasing sales and more proof of real-world benefits of e-tractors may also spur the Government of India to include e-tractors in national EV incentive programs. The reality is that e-tractors are already here. In India, a more conducive policy context and more proactive steps from industry can help make them mainstream in the coming years.
