On Monday, India’s VST Tillers Tractors Ltd reported a 29.3% drop in second-quarter profit. The farm machinery maker was hit by slow growth in tillers and weak tractor sales.
The company’s profit was 227.4 million Indian rupees ($2.8 million) for the quarter ended September 30, down from 321.5 million rupees a year earlier.
Revenue from operations rose 0.3% to 2.34 billion rupees, according to VST.
Similar to the previous quarter, VST was impacted by rising raw material costs in the last quarter as well, with material cost increasing by 9.7%.
Tiller sales volumes, which accounted for approximately 84% of total volumes in the quarter, increased 2.2%.
Tractor sales volumes, which represent about 16% of total volumes, fell 27.4% from the previous quarter, when the entire industry benefited from pent-up demand following the lifting of restrictions of COVID-19.
Analysts said tractor sales came under pressure in the last quarter due to an uneven monsoon and a partial delay in sowing the kharif. ($1 = 82.4480 Indian rupees).