Escorts Kubota Limited, formerly Escorts Limited, is an Indian multinational conglomerate that operates in the sectors of

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the machine (mechanical), mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are list of agricultural machinery, many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractor ...

, construction machinery, material handling, and railway equipment. Its headquarters are located in

Faridabad Faridabad () is the most populous List of cities in Haryana by population, city near NCT of Delhi in the Indian state of Haryana and a part of National Capital Region (India), Delhi National Capital Region. It is one of the major satellite citie ...

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. The company was launched in 1944 and has marketing operations in more than 40 countries. Escorts manufactures

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

s, automotive components, railway equipment, and construction and material handling equipment. Escorts Kubota Limited's management team includes

Nikhil Nanda Nikhil Nanda (born 18 March 1974) is an Indian businessman residing in UK. He is the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Escorts Kubota Limited (formerly Escorts Limited), an Indian multinational engineering conglomerate that specialises ...

as the Chairman and Managing Director and Seizi Fukuoka as Deputy Managing Director.

History

Escorts Limited was originally founded as Escorts Agents Ltd. in 1944 by brothers Har Prasad Nanda and Yudi Nanda. They started a family owned business, Nanda Bus Company, in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. Escorts Limited was founded in 1960 after the company set up its manufacturing base at Faridabad and began manufacturing

x-ray machines An X-ray machine is a device that uses X-rays for a variety of applications including medicine, X-ray fluorescence, electronic assembly inspection, and measurement of material thickness in manufacturing operations. In medical applications, X-ra ...

with Westinghouse and heating elements with Elpro. In March 2020,

Kubota Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Osaka. It was established in 1890. The corporation produces many products including tractors and other agricultural machinery, construction equipment, engines, vending machines, pipe, valves, ca ...

acquired a 10% stake in Escorts Limited for through preferential allotment, while Escorts Limited acquired a 40% stake in Kubota's Indian subsidiary, Kubota Agri Machinery India Pvt Ltd, for . In November 2021, Kubota increased its stake in Escorts Limited from 9.09% to 14.99% after acquiring an additional 5.90% stake through a preferential issue for . In June 2022, Kubota increased its stake to 44.80% following an open offer and subscription to new shares, and the company was renamed as Escorts Kubota Limited. Kubota's stake increased to 53.50% after the cancellation of all shares held by Escorts Benefit and Welfare Trust in the company. In 2024, the

NCLT The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is a quasi-judicial body in India that adjudicates issues relating to Indian companies. The tribunal, established under the Companies Act 2013, was constituted on 1 June 2016 by the government of India a ...

approved a merger of Kubota Agricultural Machinery India Pvt Ltd and Escorts Kubota India Pvt Ltd with Escorts Kubota Limited.

Businesses

Escorts Agri Machinery

Escorts Agri Machinery was launched in 1960. The company manufactures

tractors A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

under the brand names Farmtrac, Powertrac, and Steeltrac. The first Escorts tractors were produced in 1961 based on Ursus license. In 1969, a partnership with Ford was set up to produce licensed Ford tractors for India. Escorts has a plant in

Mrągowo Mrągowo (until 1947 ; ; Masurian dialects, Masurian: Zondzbork) is a resort town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship of northeastern Poland, with 21,889 inhabitants (2019). It is the capital of Mrągowo County and the seat (though not part of ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, that was purchased from Pol-Mot in 2000, and four plants in India. There was an assembly plant in

Tarboro, North Carolina Tarboro is a town located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Rocky Mount metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town had a population of 10,721. It is the county seat of Edgeco ...

, that was purchased from Long Agri, but the North American subsidiary went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

in 2008.

Escorts Kubota – Construction Equipment

Escorts Kubota Limited – Construction Equipment manufactures and markets construction and material handling equipment like Safe Cranes, Hydra Cranes, backhoe loaders & compactors. Formerly, Escorts Construction Equipment Limited, their manufacturing and assembly facility is located in

Faridabad, Haryana Faridabad () is the most populous List of cities in Haryana by population, city near NCT of Delhi in the Indian state of Haryana and a part of National Capital Region (India), Delhi National Capital Region. It is one of the major satellite citie ...

Railway Equipment Division

The Railway Equipment Division manufactures and supplies critical railway components such as air brake systems, EP brake systems, draft gears and couplers, composition brake blocks, dampers, and rubber components to the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

. The manufacturing facility is located in Sector 24, Faridabad.

Escorts Auto Products

Escorts Auto Products manufactures auto suspension products such as shock absorbers, struts, and telescopic front forks for the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...

. The company collaborated with Fichtel & Sachs to introduce the concept of shock absorbers to be manufactured in India in 1966. In 2016, Escorts' Auto Products business was divested to Pune-based Badve Engineering.

Motorcycles

The motorcycle division of Escorts group used to manufacture Polish SHL M11 motorcycles under the brand name Rajdoot from the early 1960s until 2005. In the early 1980s, Escorts started making Yamaha motorcycles in India. Rajdoot 350 was launched in 1983, which was later followed by the

Yamaha RX 100 The Yamaha RX 100 was a Two-stroke engine, two-stroke motorcycle made by Yamaha Motor Company, Yamaha from 1985 to 1996 with technical collaboration and distributed in India by the Escorts Group. At the initial stage, Yamaha Japan was exporting a ...

in 1985. The "RX" name signified "Rajdoot × Yamaha". The motorcycle manufacturing unit in Faridabad, India, was sold to Yamaha in 2001 when Escorts decided to quit the motorcycle business to concentrate on tractors and auto components.

Knowledge Management Centre

The Escorts Knowledge Management Centre (KMC) was created in 1976 and is spread over in Faridabad. The centre designs tractors. It has facilities such as an engine laboratory that has computerised test beds with online control,

data acquisition Data acquisition is the process of sampling signals that measure real-world physical conditions and converting the resulting samples into digital numeric values that can be manipulated by a computer. Data acquisition systems, abbreviated by the ...

, and analysis; an advanced vehicle testing laboratory; a noise vibration and harshness lab; a metrology lab; and a materials engineering lab.

References

{{Nifty 200 companies Agricultural machinery manufacturers of India Tractor manufacturers of India Engineering companies of India Indian brands Companies based in Haryana Manufacturing companies established in 1960 1960 establishments in India Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange