Despite the signs of distress and fatigue in Indian agriculture, the use of machines in crop operations has increased manifold in recent times. Proponents of mechanization argue that mechanization saves time and cost, and improves agricultural productivity. The Government of India has also encouraged mechanization through subsiding farm machinery and establishing custom hiring centres. Earlier studies have found significant regional variation in the spread of agricultural mechanization. Cost of cultivation data collected by Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) reveal that although the share of machine labour in the cost of cultivation per hectare has increased, there exist significant differences across crops in the use of mechanical input. Empirical studies in different regions have found a significant presence of the rental market for services of agricultural machinery. However, in recent years there have been very few studies on the patterns of mechanization based on household-level data on ownership and investment in agricultural machinery and implements. Agro-ecological characteristics of a region are said to have a significant impact on the level of mechanization. Ownership of machinery is also significantly influenced by the factors such as size of landholding, access to irrigation and access to institutional credit. The pattern of investment and ownership of machinery has important implications on the profitability of farming. This article uses unit-level data from the All-India Debt and Investment Survey (NSS 70th round 2013) to study the pattern of agricultural mechanization in India based on the ownership of agricultural machinery and implements. Using ownership and expenditure data it studies the questions of recent patterns in agricultural mechanization across agro-ecological regions and land classes.

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印度的农业机械化：农业生态地区耕种户对农业机械的所有权和投资研究

尽管印度农业出现了苦难和疲惫的迹象，但近来在农作物生产中使用机械的情况却有所增加。支持机械化的人认为，机械化可以节省时间和成本，并提高农业生产率。印度政府还通过补贴农业机械和建立定制的雇用中心来鼓励机械化。早期的研究发现农业机械化的传播存在明显的区域差异。农业成本和价格委员会（CACP）收集的耕种成本数据显示，尽管每公顷耕种机械成本中机械劳力的份额有所增加，但不同农作物在使用机械投入方面存在显着差异。在不同地区的经验研究发现，农业机械服务的租赁市场占有重要地位。但是，近年来，基于家庭水平的农业机械和农具所有权和投资数据的机械化模式研究很少。据说该地区的农业生态特征对机械化水平具有重大影响。机械的所有权还受到土地所有权规模，获得灌溉和获得机构信贷等因素的显着影响。机械的投资和所有权模式对农业的盈利能力具有重要影响。本文使用来自《全印度债务与投资调查》（2013年第70轮）的单位级数据来研究基于农业机械和农具所有权的印度农业机械化模式。利用所有权和支出数据，它研究了农业生态区域和土地类别之间农业机械化的最新模式问题。