Engineering India's harvest future

A deep dive into CNH Industrial's Pune powerhouse, where agricultural productivity converges with precision mechanisation.

- By Sujatha Vishnuraj

In Pune, the heart of Maharashtra’s industrial belt, where the rugged landscape meets the growing ambition of Indian agriculture, stands a facility that is rewriting the rules of farm mechanisation. The CNH Industrial plant in Pune is not just a manufacturing site, but is a 280,000-square-metre testament to the philosophy of ‘Great Iron + Great Technology’. The steady hum across the shop floor reflected a facility operating in alignment with the objectives of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

A strategic cornerstone in the Deccan

The Pune plant, commissioned in 2017, is the youngest in CNH’s Indian trio, yet it carries a weight far beyond its years. While the Noida facility remains the bastion of tractor production and Pithampur leads in construction equipment, Pune has carved out a unique identity as the group’s ‘Crop Solutions’ hub. It is here that CNH manufactures its most complex agricultural machinery; the bestselling sugarcane harvesters, cab-equipped combine harvesters and the small square bailers that are pivotal to India’s crop residue management.

Narinder Mittal, President & Managing Director of CNH India, describes the facility as a ‘cornerstone’ of their manufacturing footprint. “As India moves further towards becoming a developed economy, agricultural mechanisation will play a critical role in driving productivity,” Mittal noted during our visit. His words resonate on the shop floor, where the sheer scale of the machinery – particularly the sugarcane harvesters – serves as a physical manifestation of this productivity drive.

The shop floor where precision meets scale