FMTTI Testing for Combine Harvesters Explained

Combine harvesters sit in their own bracket under FMTTI's testing framework, and the rules around them differ in a few specific ways from tractors or implements. Here's what we tell manufacturers when a combine is heading to test.

What the test actually evaluates

A combine harvester test isn't a single pass/fail check — it's a set of performance measurements taken under real field conditions, at the institute. What we see covered is:

• Threshing and separation efficiency, including grain loss under varying crop conditions
• Field capacity and effective output per hour
• Fuel consumption under load
• Structural durability and safety-guard compliance
• Operator ergonomics and control accessibility This is run at CFMTTI Budni or at the relevant regional FMTTI, since combines fall under the self-propelled machinery category those institutes handle. The underlying procedure is FMTTI's/CFMTTI's own performance-and-endurance protocol, with the RNAM test methodology used as the reference for field-performance evaluation. BIS's national product and safety standards sit alongside this — they're a parallel reference point, not a replacement for the institute's own test.

Validity: why combines get longer than tractors

Once a combine passes its Initial Commercial Test (ICT), that report holds for 7 years. A subsequent Batch Test, if your production run needs one, is valid for 5 years. That's a longer ICT window than tractors and power tillers get, which are only good for 3 years before needing to be re-tested.

The longer window for combines reflects how the categories were grouped when the Technical Committee fixed these figures — it sits with the same 7-year bracket as tractor-operated implements and post-harvest technology machinery, rather than with tractors and power tillers themselves.

How many units you need to submit

This is one of the details that trips people up. FMTTI's general sample-size rule scales by machine price — the cheaper the unit, the more of them you submit, on the logic that cheaper machines are produced and tested in higher volumes. Combines are carved out as their own line:

So rather than falling under the general ₹1,00,000-and-above bracket (which would call for 5 units), combines have a dedicated 3-unit minimum. Given the cost and scale of a combine, that's a meaningful difference when you're planning which machines go to the institute and when.

What you'll need to file

The paperwork is the same baseline FMTTI asks of every applicant: application form, detailed technical specification (in the institute's published format for your category, where one exists), a declaration of performance characteristics, operator's manual, service manual, and parts catalogue — each submitted in 3 sets — plus photographs, drawings, and the fee payment receipt. An application that doesn't meet this is summarily rejected rather than held in a queue, so it's worth getting the set complete before submission.

On cost: FMTTI's published fee schedules list rates for categories like implements, threshers, transplanters and plant-protection equipment, but a combine-specific line isn't part of that published schedule — the exact figure for your machine is worth confirming directly with your target institute before you budget.

Where we fit in

We guide manufacturers through this process — getting documentation into the right format, confirming which institute and schedule applies, and liaising with FMTTI on timing and queries. The actual testing — the threshing runs, the field trials, the fuel measurements — is always carried out by FMTTI's own engineers, at the institute. We don't run any part of the test ourselves; our job is making sure nothing holds up the application before it gets there.