Indian Micro Irrigation System Industry: 2011 Edition

Micro Irrigation Systems, i.e. the systems in which water is directly applied to the root zone of the plants, were introduced mainly to prevent the excessive wastage of water in the conventional systems of irrigation, like flood irrigation. But reducing the water consumption is not the only benefit that the micro irrigation systems provide. Apart from this, the micro irrigation systems helps to reduce the amount of inputs used, the electricity consumption, fertilizer use, and labor requirement. Also, the micro irrigation systems are known to help increase the yield of the land, i.e. the same land can provide higher yields if micro irrigation systems are used, as compared to the flood irrigation techniques.

On the back of the benefits provided by the micro irrigation systems, the India market for micro irrigation has been developing at a fast rate. Micro irrigation systems are mainly of two types, drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. The water consumption level is quite low in drip irrigation as compared to the sprinkler irrigation method, which is why the share of drip irrigation is constantly on rise in the Indian markets, but still the share of drip irrigation is less than the sprinkler irrigation. But in the coming years, the drip irrigation techniques are likely to overshadow the sprinkler method of irrigation. Regionally, Maharashtra and Rajasthan dominate the MIS market in India, whereas the highest MIS penetration levels are seen in Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Despite huge developments in the micro irrigation industry in India, the MIS penetration in the country stands quite low as compared to the other regions worldwide. This low penetration offers growth opportunities in future. All the benefits provided by the micro irrigation systems over flood irrigation, coupled with the governmental initiatives to increase the MIS penetration are responsible for the MIS growth in India. Also, all such drivers are likely to help the market to grow in future as well.

Inspite of the government support in the form of subsidies, the high installation costs of the micro irrigation systems remain a concern for the industry. Also since it is somewhat difficult to implement MIS techniques on small and marginal farm lands, and a substantial share of the total cultivated land in India is held by the small and marginal farmers, this become a matter of concern for the industry.

The Indian market for micro irrigation systems is consolidated with Jain Irrigation holding the largest share, more than half of the market. The second largest player in the Indian industry is Netafim, which is the worldwide leader in micro irrigation system industry. Other companies worth mentioning in the micro irrigation industry in India are EPC Industries, Deere & Company, Finolex Industries and Supreme Industries.

The present report analyzes the Indian market for micro irrigation systems. It discusses the major ongoing trends as well as the growth drivers of the industry. Some of the major issues and challenges being faced by the Indian MIS industry are also presented. The report discusses the competitive landscape of the Indian MIS industry, followed by profiling of the major four players, Jain Irrigation, Netafim, EPC Industries, and Deere & Company.

By combining SPSS Inc.'s data integration and analysis capabilities with our relevant findings, we have predicted the future growth of the industry. We employed various significant variables that have an impact on this industry and created regression models with SPSS Base to determine the future direction of the industry. Before deploying the regression model, the relationship between several independent or predictor variables and the dependent variable was analyzed using standard SPSS output, including charts, tables and tests.