1) At a Glance
If Indian agriculture had a walking soundtrack, VST Tillers Tractors Ltd would be that stubborn, reliable drumbeat that refuses to go out of rhythm. Founded in 1967, now a ₹5,110 crore market-cap machine, the company just dropped Q3 FY26 numbers that look like a farmer discovering drip irrigation after decades of buckets. Quarterly revenue ₹314 crore (+43.4% YoY), PAT ₹30.7 crore, and a balance sheet so clean it could pass an income-tax raid blindfolded.
At ₹5,912, the stock trades at ~40.7x P/E, which is premium pricing for a company selling power tillers—yes, the same machines your chacha still calls “walking tractors.” ROCE sits at ~12.5%, ROE ~9.5%, debt is practically a rounding error (₹1.82 crore), and dividends keep coming like polite festival gifts (yield 0.33%). The kicker? A 58% market share in power tillers. Monopoly vibes. Tractor ambitions. International aspirations. Subsidy anxiety. Pull up a plastic chair—this one’s layered.
2) Introduction
Let’s address the elephant in the field. VST used to wear the Mitsubishi badge proudly; today all those collaborations have expired, and the VST family holds ~55.6%. Translation: training wheels off, brand fully homegrown, execution on the promoters. The company dominates small farm mechanization, where landholdings are tiny, labour is scarce, and diesel engines still rule. Power tillers contribute ~54% of revenue, tractors ~34%, and a quietly growing distribution & spares business fills the rest.
But markets don’t pay 40x for nostalgia. They pay for growth, moat, and optionality. VST is pitching all three:
- Moat: power tiller dominance + dealer network.
- Growth: compact tractors in India + Europe.
- Optionality: EV tractors, alliances (Zetor, Monarch), digitised spares.
The risk? Subsidies. When governments blink, demand hiccups. VST’s response—subsidy-neutral
SKUs and retail finance—sounds sensible. Whether it scales smoothly is the real test.
3) Business Model — WTF Do They Even Do?
Think of VST as a three-legged stool:
Leg 1: Power Tillers (Cash Cow)
Lightweight, compact machines for small and marginal farmers. VST sold ~31,770 units in FY22, commands ~58% market share, and runs 550+ dealers. This is the annuity engine. It funds experiments elsewhere.
Leg 2: Tractors (Growth, With Drama)
Compact to higher HP tractors under VST and VST FIELDTRAC, with ~7% share in compact tractors. FY22 sales ~7,900 units. Europe is the flirtation—EU standards, multiple distributors, long courtship cycles.
Leg 3: Precision Components + Distribution (The Quiet Hustle)
Crankshafts, cylinder blocks, and a digitised spares distribution network (40 distributors, 700 dealers, ~3,000 retailers). Contribution ~11% of FY22 revenue—boring, sticky, margin-friendly.
Sprinkle R&D spend ~₹37 crore (~4% of revenue), four manufacturing plants, and global distribution—and you get a focused agri-industrial with selective ambition.
4) Financials Overview
Quarterly Comparison (₹ crore):
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Q3 FY26) | Same Qtr LY (Q3 FY25) | Prev Qtr (Q2 FY26) | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 314.3 | 219.0 | 315.0 | +43.4% | -0.2% |
| EBITDA | 41.0 | 20.0 | 41.0 | +105% | 0.0% |
| PAT | 30.7 | 2.0 | 25.0 | +1,707% | +22.8% |
| EPS (₹) | 35.54 | 1.97 | 29.42 | 🚀 | +20.8% |
Yes, YoY PAT looks absurd because
