“India is one of the world’s top grain producers and represents a crucial market for our agribusiness,” said Kemal Shoshi, president of Yanmar Agribusiness Co., Ltd.. “This acquisition will enable us to offer a wider range of products, significantly enhancing Yanmar’s presence in India. We look forward to leveraging both companies’ strengths to deliver Yanmar’s products to more customers.”

CLAAS Group CEO Jan-Hendrik Mohr stated: “CLAAS and Yanmar share numerous common values such as a strong commitment to technical quality, reliable machinery, and building strong relationships with stakeholders, in particular agricultural customers. We extend our best wishes to Yanmar for their future endeavors in the Indian agricultural machinery market. CLAAS will continue to stand behind CLAAS machinery and further grow its engineering and sourcing activities in India.”

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Zetwerk, a two-year-old startup connecting customers and manufacturers within the country, had never handled a U.S. order, but tapped its network of suppliers and delivered the parts. It is now a provider of everything from nail clippers to steel frames for U.S. customers, and is valued at $2.7 billion, with funding from Greenoaks Capital, Lightspeed India, Peak XV Partners and others.

India has been trying to lure some of the world’s biggest companies to set up new factories after repeated lockdowns under Beijing’s zero-Covid policy and rising geopolitical tensions with the West prompted many firms to look for alternatives to China, in a strategy referred to as â€śChina plus one.”

Venture capital in India has taken note. Investors such as Peak XV, which was Sequoia Capital India until in June it announced a split from the U.S. firm, and Lightspeed are increasingly trying to back founders whose businesses involve boosting India’s global exports. Previously, they had focused on generations of Indian startups that primarily targeted the Indian consumer market. 

Business-to-business e-commerce startups, such as Zetwerk, have seen increased deal activity in recent years, according to a PwC India report. Funding in that sector was more than three times as high in 2021 and 2022 as in the two years before that, according to data from Tracxn. 

No one expects India to replace China’s dominance as the global factory floor. India has struggled to expand its manufacturing sector, as firms faced red tape and weak infrastructure, while policy reversals have stung investors in the past. But Indian government incentives coupled with broader efforts to source materials from India—Walmart said in 2020 that it plans to triple its exports from India to $10 billion by 2027, for example—have made the country more attractive for investors. 

A Zetwerk electronics plant in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Business-to-business e-commerce startups such as Zetwerk have seen increased deal activity in recent years.

India’s manufactured exports were barely one-tenth of China’s in 2021, but they exceeded all other emerging markets except Mexico’s and Vietnam’s, according to World Bank data.

Beijing’s tensions with the West have given Indian firms an opening to connect with specific industries in the U.S. and other markets, even if they aren’t able to match the prices Chinese providers can offer, executives said.

Source:

The recall involves around 1,740 units of Frontier-branded rotary tillers for use with compact utility tractors sold in the U.S. and about 140 sold in Canada.

“Frontier” and model RT1142, RT1149, RT1157, RT1165, RT1173, RT1181, RT3042, RT3042R, RT3049, RT3049R, RT3062, or RT3062R are printed on the back of the tiller.

The tillers manufactured in India were sold at John Deere dealers nationwide from May 2019 through November 2020 for between about $2,000 and $3,200.

The agency noted that some PTO drivelines were assembled without a specified safety sign, which explains the associated hazards, and that an operator or bystander can become entangled if there is contact with the driveline.

However, the Moline, Illinois-based company has not received any reports of incidents or injuries to date related to the recalled tillers.

Angry farmers staged demonstrations near New Delhi after rejecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurances that the laws would double farmers’ income.

Six rounds of talks between government officials and farmer union leaders have failed to resolve the challenge faced by Modi’s government.

“Hundreds of farmers will launch a tractor trolley march to New Delhi to voice our grievances against the new laws,” said Kamal Preet Singh Pannu, a leader of the United Farmers’ Protest. “Government wants to discredit and crush our movement, but we will continue to protest peacefully.”

Opposition parties and some senior economists have lent support to the protests.

“I’ve now studied India’s new farm bills & realize they are flawed and will be detrimental to farmers,” Kaushik Basu, a former chief economic adviser to the federal government, wrote on Twitter. “Our agriculture regulation needs change, but the new laws will end up serving corporate interests more than farmers. Hats off to the sensibility & moral strength of India’s farmers.”

The farmers are protesting the three laws that the government says are meant to overhaul procurement procedures and grant them more options to sell their produce.

Source: Reuters