A product demo in progress at TAFE Madurai for customers
Read | Spotlight

TAFE’s MF Experience Centres redefine customer delight

TAFE as an organization has always strived to help the farming community through its products and services. For more than five decades, it has listened to its customers and their needs by providing superior products that are relevant to the times. TAFE has helped transform the lives of millions of farmers around the world, by powering farms in more than 100 countries.

In line with this, TAFE inaugurated MF Experience Centres at its Madurai and Doddaballapur facilities. It intends to provide TAFE customers with a unique brand experience through visits to the factory and the MF Tech Zone; multimedia presentations on brand heritage and Massey 4.0; and providing in-depth understanding of the technologies used through working prototype models of Massey Ferguson tractors.

The MF Experience Centre at TAFE Madurai has seen a steady flow of customers including over 1000 farmers visiting during the Pongal season. The MF Experience Centre at TAFE Doddaballapur was inaugurated recently, and has been visited by around 500 farmers. The farmers reviewed the tractors specific to Karnataka like, MF 7250 and MF 6028, among other heavy implements like the Hydraulic Reversible Mould Board Plough and an eight ft. Rotavator. These efforts resulted in several spot bookings. Additionally, the visitors were also given a health check-up and a portrait alongside the MF tractors as a souvenir of this experience.

TAFE in its journey of ‘Cultivating the World’ goes the extra mile to create a lasting relationship with its customers beyond the sale of products.

TAFE recognized for its 'Be a #FarmDost' initiative
News | Spotlight

TAFE’s ‘Be a #FarmDost’ digital movement recognized for highlighting the importance of farmers and the farming

The Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE) – ‘Be a #FarmDost‘ – initiative has been at the forefront of highlighting the importance of farmers and, helping the urban society appreciate the hard work of farmers through various digital media communications and on-ground activities which has brought farmers and the urban population together. These efforts were validated with the ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative winning awards at the IAA Olive Crown Awards, PRCI’s Corporate Collaterals Award, ACEF’s 7th Global Customer Engagement Awards, the Rural Marketing Forum & Awards and, the Making of Developed India Awards.

TAFE was bestowed the Chanakya Award in the category ‘Communication Idea of the Year’ for its ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative by the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) during the 12th Global Communication Conclave held in Pune. The TAFE group was among the top winners, winning 15 awards across different categories.

At the prestigious IAA Olive Crown Awards 2018 hosted by International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter in Mumbai, TAFE was awarded the Silver Olive Crown in the Events category for its ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative’s, ‘National Farmers’ Day’ event for ‘Creative Excellence in Communicating Sustainability’. And at the Asia Pacific Customer Engagement Forum’s (ACEF) ‘7th Global Customer Engagement Awards’, TAFE’s ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative won two gold awards. One for its ‘National Farmers’ Day’ event for the ‘Successful use of CSR Activity’ in the Events & Promotions category, and one for its #ThankYouTohBol TV commercial for ‘Creativity’ in the Television category.

The ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative by TAFE was also recognized as the ‘Social Development Campaign of the Year’ by the Rural Marketing Forum & Awards. The award recognizes development and integrated marketing concepts which aim to bring about social change for the greater good. TAFE’s ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative was also awarded at the Making of Developed India Awards, in the ‘Best Marketing Campaign of the Year (Agriculture)’ category. The award recognizes the efforts of an organization/team to increase awareness for a particular product or service.

About the ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative:

Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), the world’s third largest tractor manufacturer, launched the ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative with the aim to help the urban and semi-urban population understand the importance of a farmer in their lives. The initiative wants to raise empathy by encouraging people to step into the farmer’s shoes, even if for a small while. The idea stems from the thought that if people realize the effort it takes to cultivate a single crop, they would truly realize what the average farmer has to go through, day in and day out.

The ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative is simple, to show gratitude to the farmers who are responsible for sustaining and nourishing us. Launched in April 2015, the initiative is spearheaded by the Corporate Communications team of TAFE. In its first phase, TAFE encouraged the urban population to become farmers in a small way using the #FarmDost seed kit to cultivate crops at home, thereby realizing the effort that goes into the food they eat every day. People were also challenged to meet farmers and thank them for their hard work that nourishes and sustains the world. To support this mission, activities have been carried out throughout the country apart from the daily activity on all its online communities.

The ‘National Farmers’ Day’ by TAFE – Be a #FarmDost was held in December 2017 bringing together the urban residents of Bengaluru, and farmers from nearby regions, on a farm to live the farm life and celebrate ‘Farmers’ Day’ with the farmers. The event got urban residents to become farmers for a day, engage with them, and realize the effort and hard work put in by the farmer to cultivate the food that sustains and nourishes the world. The participants got the experience of, cultivating in a farm (teak, pomegranate or sandalwood sapling); tending to a farm by, harvesting red chilies and radish, and de-weeding the farm; making organic fertilizer; taking a tractor ride; and creating a mock farm in teams with the farmers, during the ‘Build-a-Farm’ challenge. The event channeled all the participants’ inner farmer by the activities, which they enjoyed – discovering the joys of farming.

The ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative is primarily driven online, building a global community of #FarmDosts, reaching out to them across media and platforms. The aim is to communicate with and bring like-minded people together who relate to the cause and bring the farmer back into social consciousness. Within a short span, the #FarmDost community grew to become 1 million strong on Facebook and is steadily growing. It also has a notable presence on other platforms like Linkedin, YouTube, Google Plus, Pinterest, and Instagram.

The ‘Be a #FarmDost’ initiative’s simple yet powerful message of gratitude and appreciation for the farmers and the profession of farming has resonated with society and is inspiring people to realize the true value of the invisible hero – the farmer.

TAFE acquires IMT brand of tractors
News | Spotlight

TAFE successfully acquires iconic IMT tractor brand

Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited – TAFE, the world’s third largest tractor manufacturer by volume, successfully acquired the renowned Serbian tractor and agriculture equipment brand IMT – Industrija Masinai Traktora.

TAFE’s has had a long association with IMT spanning many decades through business cooperation that involved the supply of components, aggregates and technical support. TAFE will support its local partner with supply of components and aggregates for the rollout of IMT tractors in Serbia and allied markets.

Ms. Mallika Srinivasan – Chairman & CEO, TAFE, speaking on this recent acquisition said, “TAFE and IMT have shared a long mutually beneficial cooperation. This acquisition will play a key role in TAFE’s strategic and growth plans for the future.”

Through this acquisition TAFE acquires the right to use the Brand and Intellectual Property Rights, including the Designs, Trademarks and Copyright (IPR) of IMT.

IMT, an iconic tractor brand is a pioneer in farm mechanization and tractor technology with a wide range of implements and tractors suitable for cultivating agricultural land, vineyards and orchards and infrastructure applications. The implements range includes ploughs, trailers, maize planters, seed drills, cultivators and loader forklifts.

Well known for its indigenous R&D, IMT produced a range of tractors between 35 hp and 220 hp and is a popular tractor brand in Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and the Balkans.

Mallika Srinivasan recognized as ‘Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur’ at The ET Family Business Awards
News | Spotlight

Ms. Mallika Srinivasan recognized as ‘Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur’ by ET

TAFE Chairman & CEO, Ms. Mallika Srinivasan was awarded in the ‘Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur’ category at the maiden edition of The Economic Times Family Business Awards.

Mallika Srinivasan is a thought leader and a strategist, recognized for entrepreneurship, commitment to excellence and contribution to Indian agriculture machinery business and academia. TAFE is today, the third largest tractor manufacturer in the world and the second largest in India by volumes, with an annual sale of over 150,000 tractors and presence in over 100 countries, including developed countries in Europe and the Americas. It is one of the leading exporters of tractors from India.

In a span of 25 years, Ms. Mallika Srinivasan has established TAFE as a quality mass manufacturer of tractors, a lean and resilient organization that can effectively weather the cyclicality of the tractor business. With her special emphasis on product and process development, she has ensured significant expansion of TAFE’s product range. She enhanced and leveraged the engineering strengths at TAFE to design, develop and manufacture a range of products for international markets. Besides tractors and farm machinery, TAFE manufactures diesel engines, silent gensets, batteries, hydraulic pumps and cylinders, engineering plasticsgears and transmission components, and has business interest in vehicle franchises and plantations.

“Only businesses with more than ₹250 crore in consolidated revenue in the financial year 2016-17 were considered. Apart from revenue and profit growth, the jury considered key factors such as sustainability of the business model, governance – including outlined family constitution and ownership policies – succession planning framework, strategic partnerships, product and service innovation, strength of the leadership team, innovation in organisational and family structuring, global business growth and strategic tie-ups among other things.” – ET Family Business Awards 2018.

TAFE participates in the Farm Engineering Expo 2018 in Andhra Pradesh
News

TAFE participated in the Farm Engineering Expo 2018 in Andhra Pradesh

TAFE participated as the Platinum Sponsors of the Farm Engineering Expo 2018 – Andhra Pradesh’s maiden exclusive farm mechanization mega event, organized by the College of Agricultural Engineering, Bapatla, the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) and the AP State Agro Industries Development Corporation Ltd.

The TAFE pavilion was visited by Mr. Somireddy Chandra Mohan Reddy, the Honorable Minister for Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture and Agri Processing, Government of Andhra Pradesh, who inaugurated the expo and took a keen interest in TAFE’s products and understanding how TAFE has been contributing to the prosperity of the farmers.

The expo was held at the College of Agricultural Engineering, Bapatla, between February 26-28, 2018, and was well received by the people there. The stall showcased the unbeatable range of Massey Ferguson tractors, and an MF 9500 powered Combine Harvester and AgriStar Implements from TAFE and was well received.

TAFE partners with CII as the event sponsor for CII Agri Tech South 2018 held in Telangana
News | Events

TAFE to improve farm productivity and mechanization in Telangana

TAFE – Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited, India’s second largest tractor manufacturer partnered with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as the event sponsor for CII Agri Tech South 2018 held at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) from February 9-11, 2018. TAFE, with its expertise in agriculture, aims to help farmers in Telangana increase farm productivity and farm output through farmer training, integrated farming practices, and popularizing cost effective soil and water management initiatives, and reducing cost of farm inputs through appropriate mechanization solutions.

Incorporated in 1960, TAFE has been at the forefront of agri-mechanization in India. Established with the aim to alleviate Indian farmers from subsistence to profitability, it has been TAFE’s corporate philosophy to go beyond the sale of products and add value to customers’lives by empowering them to become a vibrant, self-sustaining, and prosperous agri-community.

Mr. T. R. Kesavan, President & COO – Product Strategy & Corporate Relations, TAFE said, “TAFE’s mission is to empower farmers to build a sustainable livelihood by helping them become self-sufficient by increasing farm productivity. TAFE hopes to launch its ‘Farmer2Farmer’ initiative – a farmer community building initiative that encourages farmer-owned and operated services to promote farm mechanization among small and marginal, through a mobile app, to help farmers connect with each other, collaborate and network in improving farmer prosperity.”

He added that, “TAFE’s association with the farmers of Telangana stretches back to several decades and we strive to constantly improve their lives as they have placed their valuable trust in TAFE and its products. TAFE further hopes to strengthen its association with the Telangana government and improve agricultural productivity in the state”.

TAFE’s expertise goes beyond providing farm mechanization solutions with an established competency in providing integrated farm solutions via JFarm. JFarm was first established by TAFE in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in 1964 with an objective of improving the well-being of farmers by empowering them with advanced farm technologies to increase farm productivity and meet India’s growing food needs. TAFE’s Product Training Center trains farmers, dealer, dealer employees, mechanics and students in understanding and applying agriculture-mechanization at its best.

TAFE seeks to replicate the JFarm success story across India and is exploring opportunities of working with several states including Telengana to realize this objective.

TAFE employees on a journey of constant learning
News | Initiative

TAFE helps employees speak Hindi, promoting constant learning

Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE) as an organization has learning imbibed in its DNA, supporting and encouraging its employees to constantly develop and upgrade themselves. With a strong commitment to nurture the lives of its people, TAFE has several initiatives that are a catalyst to its peoples growth.

TAFE regularly engages with its employees through workshops and discussions to understand their needs and requirements. Through L3 workshops and employee engagement sessions conducted across the organization with respective functional heads; requests for Hindi spoken classes emerged, as employees wanted to be able to fluently converse with teams all over India.

The HR team based on this request, partnered with Mrs. Vimala Radhakrishnan to design the language course curriculum. Mrs. Radhakrishnan was also the facilitator for these Hindi classes, which were scheduled over two months, comprising 40 hours of learning and spread across three days a week post office hours from 6 pm to 7 pm.

Mrs. Radhakrishnan is known for her unique approach to teaching Hindi, as she teaches the language using English and the native language – Tamil in this case. Her approach was to focus on pronunciation through sounds – Phonetics (Tamil and English), and consciously avoid grammar first, as it would not be applicable to learning spoken Hindi.

TAFE teams that have already been through the classes include, the IT and Finance teams based out of TAFE Head Office, and a few R&D teams from TAFE Sembiam.

TAFE wins EEPC India - Southern Region Awards for the 21st consecutive year
News | Spotlight

TAFE wins EEPC award for the 21st consecutive year

Tractors and Farm Equipment LimitedTAFE, is the third largest tractor manufacturer in the world and the second largest in India (by volumes), and has been powering farms in over 100 countries. In recognition of its outstanding contribution to engineering exports, TAFE has been awarded the ‘Star Performer – Large Enterprise (Agricultural Tractors)’ at the 40th Engineering Exports Promotion Council of India – Southern Region Awards – 2015-16. The award was presented by the Honorable Minister for Minister for Industries, Sports and Youth Affairs, Sri. A C Moideen, Government of Kerala on October 25, 2017 and received by Mr. N Sriram – Divisional Manager, Exports and Mr. N Anantharamakrishnan – Deputy Manager, Exports on behalf of TAFE.

TAFE is one of India’s leading tractor exporters. The awards were decided on the basis of FOB value of export of engineering goods in agricultural tractors. The award is a remarkable achievement for TAFE as it has won this prestigious award 21 years in a row. TAFE’s success can be attributed to many factors like the extensive range of products and features it offers to its customers and the synergy between TAFE & AGCO teams to take the brand forward. TAFE will continue to strive in its endeavor to provide the best farm mechanization equipment to farmers world over in its journey of #CultivatingTheWorld.

The EEPC India is a premier trade and investment promotion organization in India, sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. It caters to the Indian engineering goods sector that also acts as an advisory body that actively contributes to the policies of the Indian government and works to provide liaison between the engineering industry and the Government. The institution serves over 12,000 members ranging from large corporate, trading houses, small and medium scale units and more.

Read | Events

Taking the tractor to the masses

TAFE has always prided itself in being a learning organization. It has always been at the forefront of fostering learning; be it the ‘Product Training Centre’ – first of its kind in the tractor industry, instituted by Mr. A Sivasailam in 1963, to train all dealer and company employees who deal with TAFE customers, or the TAFE e-University that has revolutionized learning at the work place for all TAFE employees.

Apart from the learning that is imparted within the organization, TAFE regularly works with organizations like SAE India and CII reaching out to the next generation of students. Recently, in a lecture – ‘Trend of Transmission for Tractors’, conducted by SAE Southern Section – Chennai Division, Mr. T R Karthikeyan, Deputy Chief Engineer – R&D addressed a gathering of college students from engineering colleges in and around Chennai at AIEMA, Chennai.

Mr. T R Karthikeyan during his talk spoke about different transmissions like, Manual/Straight Shift, Synchronized Shift, Semi-Automatic, Continuously Variable and Hydrostatic, found in various tractor brands in India. He explained in detail how each system worked with the aid of videos. It was a deeply insightful interaction that helped the participants understand the in-depth workings of a tractor transmission.

In another SAEISS event, Mr. S Sriraman, Senior Vice President – R&D, TAFE and Chairman of SAEISS spoke to the participants of the Fifth Lecture Meeting jointly-organized by SAEISS Erode Division and Collegiate Club on ‘Tractors for Modern Farming’. Held at Vellalar College of Engineering and Technology, Erode, Mr. Sriraman enlightened the delegates with a broad outlook on the trends in the Indian agriculture sector and its various developments. He spoke of TAFE’s active role in improving farming practices.

We congratulate the R&D team and wish them the very best for their future endeavors.

Read | CSR

TAFE Doddaballapur Plant Hosts Free Eye Care Camp

TAFE – Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited has been committed to making meaningful contributions and accelerating the growth of the community it operates in. TAFE’s CSR activities stretch across domains like agriculture, education, healthcare, community development, conservation and tribal welfare, disaster relief, and preservation and propagation of traditional art forms.

Contributing towards the well-being of the community and in an effort to provide its employees and the general public access to quality eye care without any cost, TAFE’s Doddaballapur plant organized a free eye care camp in association with Narayana Netralaya, Bengaluru, on October 11 and 12, 2017. The camp was organized in TAFE’s Doddaballapur facility for its employees and in the Bashettihalli Government School for the general public.

The camp was inaugurated by Mr. Krishnappa, Ex-President Bashettihalli Gram Panchayat and was well appreciated and received by the people. The camp saw participation from 368 people, of whom 180 were recommended to wear spectacles while 12 were referred for cataract surgery and successfully operated at Narayana Netralaya without any fee.

TAFE reaches out to the society in three different ways:

  • Through philanthropic acts
  • By working with local communities through direct intervention and dedicated resources, both in terms of manpower and financial support, or through strategic partnerships with government and non-governmental and professional networks to develop a sustainable model for inclusive growth
  • Through initiatives that are closely aligned to the broader vision of the company which is about being an active partner and enabler of the agricultural development of the country

As a responsible corporate citizen, TAFE is committed to:

  • Enable the farming community to achieve higher productivity and prosperity
  • Contribute to the health and welfare of employees and the community it operates in
  • Conserve the environment through the propagation of sustainable practices
  • Empower the differently-abled by creating meaningful opportunities
  • Preserve and perpetuate the rich Indian heritage of art and culture

As with all TAFE’s CSR initiatives, the TAFE Doddaballapur Plant, like its other facilities, aims to make a consistent and lasting contribution towards the well-being of the community and its people. It has been actively engaged in improving their lives and making meaningful contributions towards their development by cultivating joy and #CultivatingTheWorld.