POWER PAIR. Mallika Srinivasan, Chairperson and MD, and Lakshmi Venu, Vice-Chairperson, TAFE | Photo Credit: Bijoy Ghosh

Sixty-six-year-old Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE) may be best known as one of the largest tractor makers in the world but, steered by the dynamic mother-daughter duo Mallika Srinivasan and Lakshmi Venu, it is fast evolving into a global agri-tech innovator. The company is cultivating its future in precision farming through next-gen electrification, smart mechanisation, and cutting-edge field solutions.

Sitting down for a chat with businessline, Mallika Srinivasan, Chairperson and Managing Director, and Lakshmi Venu, Vice Chairperson, TAFE, express their growing confidence in the company’s intellectual property and engineering capabilities. So much so that some of the products are first being sent to global customers before they enter Indian markets.

Says Srinivasan, “We are so confident today that we are no longer saying we have to launch it in India and will later take it abroad. Our electric product will be in Europe before the end of the year. We call it Born Electric because it’s been designed for maximum efficiency as an electric tractor. This year, we’re going into commercial production.”

Venu, whose father is the automotive doyen Venu Srinivasan, took charge as Vice Chairperson in 2025. She describes TAFE’s R&D approach as combining the research capabilities of Indian teams and global centres of excellence to tailor products for different geographies. “We are looking at multiple alternative fuels [in new product development], depending on the option most suitable to a geography and which makes economic sense,” she says.

This vision of TAFE was front and centre at Agritechnica 2025 in Europe, where the company unveiled its next-generation electric hybrid tractor TAFE EVX75, among other innovations. Srinivasan and Venu say the company is making significant R&D and capex investments in precision agri-tech, automation, and alternative-energy platforms.

Harvesting horizons

TAFE is entering FY27 with cautious optimism, banking on the monsoons, rising mechanisation trends, and export momentum.

The past year it had posted its highest-ever sales, benefitting from a combination of favourable monsoons, GST rate cut-induced demand, and rising customer aspirations.

The company sold 2,14,951 tractors (domestic and export) in FY26, up 24 per cent year-on-year. In the domestic market, TAFE sells the Massey Ferguson and Eicher tractor brands, while it mainly exports the compact and utility series along with Eicher Prima; more export products are on the cards.

“Post GST rationalisation, we saw a lot of first-time buyers coming into the market, because it’s become a bit more affordable,” says Srinivasan, adding that, on the other hand, many aspirational customers are upgrading and expanding the field.

For decades, India’s tractor market was defined by affordability and utility, but today’s farmers are more aspirational, informed and demanding, they observe.

“The information divide is gone; today the rural customer with affordable data knows everything. I went to a customer’s house in UP and he actually asked why many of our new products launch in Europe and not UP,” says Venu.

Ear to the ground

TAFE says its customer-centric approach ensures its ears are tuned to the demands of the rural economy. While the Indian market remains central, exports too are being developed as a long-term growth engine. South Asia, Turkey, western and eastern Europe, Mexico, and Africa are among its key markets. Despite the macro headwinds, exports account for 6 per cent of unit sales.

“What’s very encouraging for us is that for the first products that have gone out [to Europe] the customer word-of-mouth is excellent,” says Venu.

The West Asia crisis has led to zooming input costs, but the rural economy has been resilient and Indian farmers have been shielded well from the shock, thanks to the way the government has managed the challenge, says Srinivasan.

TAFE’s diverse manufacturing base also positions it well in terms of supply chain.

The company manufactures in Sembiam and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, Doddaballapur (Karnataka), Mandideep (Madhya Pradesh), Alwar (Rajasthan) and Parwanoo (Himachal Pradesh). Overseas, its operations in Mexico and Turkey serve its international markets.

Next-gen transition

TAFE is navigating a generational transition in its own unique way. While succession is often structured as a handover, at TAFE it is a collaboration between experience and youth leadership.

“As an institution we have a very strong, solid platform for growth, thanks to our values and culture. Using these as strengths, the youth talent works with technology to meet customers’ needs,” says Srinivasan.

Venu describes it as “a beautiful collaboration between the wisdom of the older generation and the kind of free thinking that the younger generation brings”.

“There was a particular project our CEO and I were reviewing and we applied the ‘TAFE culture’ lens to it to take decisions. It so happened that people at multiple levels below us applied the same lens to it. We want to preserve that cultural alignment,” she says. “Within this value system, we strive to be agile,” she adds.

You may think it’s harder to make changes with an older, incumbent generation but that’s not the case at TAFE because of how passionate people are, she says.

Jumping into a topic that both CXOs are passionate about, Srinivasan calls for more women in leadership roles across corporate India, pointing to the need for broader social changes to improve representation.

Venu sees Tamil Nadu’s track record as particularly encouraging.

“We have 40 per cent of the nation’s women in manufacturing in our state, so that’s working well for us,” she says.

Both leaders argue that India’s demographic dividend would shrink if the corporate world does not figure out a way to leverage women’s talent. At TAFE, they see encouraging signs, especially among younger employees who support one another and uplift women colleagues, they add.

The tone is clearly set at the very top, where the mother and daughter function like a musical duet — each playing their distinct instrument to create a harmonious whole.

Published on July 6, 2026