Is FMTTI testing mandatory?

It's mandatory whenever you need scheme/subsidy eligibility (SMAM, RKVY, PKVY, CHC) or a tender requires it. Outside those cases it's optional but often still the most credible proof of performance available.

How much does FMTTI testing cost?

Government-set testing charges for FY 2025-26 range from ₹30,514 (components/hand tools) to ₹2,96,783 (self-propelled transplanters, ride-on tool bars), per the Ministry's official fee schedule — GST is charged separately.

How long is an FMTTI test report valid?

It varies by machinery category — most Initial Commercial Test (ICT) reports run 5-7 years with a 5-year Batch Test validity after that, but tractors and power tillers are shorter (3 years ICT, 5 years Batch). See the full category-wise table on this page.

What's the difference between FMTTI and BIS certification?

BIS sets national product/safety standards; FMTTI institutes are where machinery is actually tested against performance and (for tractors) type-approval requirements. The two frequently work together rather than substitute for each other.

Which institute should I use?

Generally your region's FMTTI, though CFMTTI Budni specifically handles tractor type-approval nationally — AgPro confirms the right institute for your machine and scheme.

Does AgPro conduct the test itself?

No. AgPro provides guidance, consultation and information on the process on your behalf — documentation, scheduling, liaison and compliance interpretation. Testing is always conducted at the government institute, by its own engineers.

FMTTI Hub — What It Is, What It Tests, and How to Get Certified

Section 01

What is FMTTI?

FMTTI stands for Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute— a network of institutes under India’s Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare that trains operators and tests agricultural machinery for performance, safety and compliance. The oldest, at Budni, has functioned since 1955; the network was built out regionally through 1963, 1983 and 1990.

Why this matters for you

If your machine needs to qualify for a government subsidy scheme, or you simply want independent proof of how it performs, an FMTTI test report is very often the document that unlocks it.

Section 02

The 4 FMTTIs — and 38 more approved testing centres

Each FMTTI covers a region of India, and one — CFMTTI Budni — also runs tractor type-approval testing nationally. The FMTTIs aren't the only approved bodies, though: 38 additional State Agricultural Universities, ICAR institutions and state departments are also officially identified testing centres, covering nearly every state.

Institute	Location	Established	Coverage
CFMTTI — Central Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institute	Budni, Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh	1955	All-India + national tractor type-approval/homologation mandate
NRFMTTI — Northern Region Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institute	Hisar, Haryana	1963	Northern region
SRFMTTI — Southern Region Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institute	Garladinne, Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh	1983	Southern region
NERFMTTI — North Eastern Region Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institute	Biswanath Chariali, Assam	1990	North-Eastern region

42 approved testing bodies in total — the 4 FMTTIs above, plus 38 identified institutions (State Agricultural Universities, ICAR institutes and state departments) spanning nearly every Indian state, from Bihar and Gujarat to Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Several are additionally authorised for Plant Protection Equipment or Post-Harvest Technology machinery specifically. We confirm the right one for your machine and location — not every category needs an FMTTI specifically.

Section 03

Why FMTTI testing matters

Agricultural implements and machinery costing more than ₹35,000 generally require testing and approval from an FMTTI or a designated testing centre before they can be supplied under government-assisted programmes. An FMTTI test report is what makes a machine eligible for:

SMAM (Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization)RKVYPKVYCustom Hiring Centre (CHC) subsidy

Section 04

What gets tested

FMTTI institutes evaluate tractors, power tillers, combine harvesters and other self-propelled machinery, trailers, and engines (including mass-emission testing). Tractor type-approval specifically runs under Rule 126 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, against the AIS standards series — AIS-017 (Part 2) for the type-approval procedure, AIS-007 for tractor specifications, AIS-137 for emission test cycles, and AIS-037 for Conformity of Production.

Booked-out test slots

Institute capacity is limited; slots are often committed months ahead.

Documentation complexity

Detailed engineering drawings and specifications are required before a test can even be scheduled.

Fee & timeline pressure

Costs and lead times can be hard to plan around without prior experience.

Section 05

FMTTI vs ARAI vs ICAT vs BIS

All three of ARAI, ICAT and FMTTI are notified CMVR Rule-126 testing bodies for Indian tractors, running type-approval against the same published AIS standards regardless of which one does the work. FMTTI Budni holds a unique national mandate specifically for tractors and power tillers — its Director is recognised as the Testing Authority for the whole country under this rule.

Body	Role
FMTTI (CFMTTI Budni)	National testing authority for tractor/power-tiller type-approval; also runs performance & endurance tests for the wider machine categories.
ARAI / ICAT	Alternate notified CMVR bodies, often used for emission-cycle testing (AIS-137) or when FMTTI's slots are constrained.
BIS	National product/safety standards body — works alongside FMTTI's test procedure, not a substitute for it.

Section 06

The application-to-report process

Run on the Centralized Farm Machinery Performance Testing Portal across four roles — Manufacturer, Admin, Sub-Admin and Test Engineer. Every stage below is a real, tracked step.

Step	Actor	Action
01	Manufacturer	Registers on the Centralized Farm Machinery Performance Testing Portal and submits the duly filled application form online, with all supporting documents.
02	Admin	Forwards the application to the Sub-Admin for scrutiny.
03	Sub-Admin	Examines the application and (after Admin approval) communicates any discrepancies to the manufacturer.
04	Manufacturer	Submits a corrected application addressing the discrepancies.
05	Sub-Admin	Examines the corrected application.
06	Admin	Approves the application and intimates the manufacturer.
07	Manufacturer	Uploads the fee receipt.
08	Admin	Verifies the fee paid.
09	Sub-Admin	Allocates a test officer and period via random sampling.
10	Manufacturer	Sends the selected equipment for testing.
11	Admin	Receives the equipment and assigns a Test Engineer.
12	Test Engineer	Tests the equipment, uploads intermediate results, and prepares the Draft Test Report (DTR).
13	Admin	Approves the DTR.
14	Manufacturer	Submits comments on the DTR.
15	Admin	Forwards the comments to the Test Engineer for examination.
16	Test Engineer	Examines the comments and prepares the Final Test Report (FTR).
17	Admin	Examines the FTR, then approves and releases it.
18	Manufacturer	Receives the Final Test Report (FTR).

SMS alert and email notifications are sent to the applicant by the system at every stage.

Section 07

Fees, validity & documents

Real, sourced answers to the questions manufacturers ask before they even contact an institute — starting with the official testing-charge schedule itself.

Machinery category	Testing charge, FY 2025-26
Components / Hand tools	₹30,514
Power-operated thresher, decorticator, sheller, winnower, brush cutter, chain saw, chaff cutter etc.	₹1,21,961
Animal-drawn equipment	₹65,059
Tractor drawn/operated implements: rotavator, cultivator, harrow, plough etc.	₹2,07,357
Manually operated equipment	₹45,922
Power tiller-drawn/self-propelled reaper, power weeder etc.	₹1,21,961
Tractor drawn/operated seed-cum-fertilizer drill, straw reaper, mini rice mill, seed cleaner/grader, baler, laser land leveller, potato digger etc.	₹2,17,502
Animal-drawn multi tool bar (min. 4 attachments)	₹1,72,771
Self-propelled paddy/vegetable transplanter	₹2,96,783
Ride-on self-propelled tool bar (up to 2 attachments)	₹2,96,783
Power-operated multi-crop thresher (2+ crops)	₹2,23,616
Pump set (engine + pump), kerosene/LPG	₹1,06,930
Pump set without engine	₹50,783
Plant protection equipment — manual/battery operated	₹69,732
Plant protection equipment — power operated	₹1,83,102

Rates exclusive of GST (18%, per SRFMTTI's published schedule); effective 01.04.2025 for FY 2025-26. Revised roughly once every two years (this was an 8% revision; next expected ~01.04.2027, subject to review). Issued to FMTTIs and FMTCs (Farm Machinery Training Centres) alike.

A real discrepancy, stated honestly

Three different official figures are in circulation for power-tiller testing, and they are not interchangeable. (1) The Ministry's general per-category schedule above (F.No. 13-14/2020-M&T) lists ₹1,21,961 for “power tiller drawn / self-propelled reaper, power weeder etc.” (2) SRFMTTI's own published FY 2025-26 charges carry a separate power-tiller table at ₹5,61,320, for both Initial Commercial Test and Batch Test. (3) Under the dedicated new-regime circular (Office Order No. 13-17/2021-M&T(I&P)(FTS-98794)), SRFMTTI's signed schedule effective 01.04.2026 totals ₹4,07,478 with running-in, or ₹3,30,590 without. Each covers a different scope under a different circular — they are not versions of one number. Confirm which figure and circular apply to your machine with your target institute before budgeting.

Commercial vs Confidential test

Commercial Test

Establishes the performance characteristics of machines that are in, or ready for, commercial production. This is the standard test most manufacturers need.

Confidential Test

Provides confidential performance information ahead of commercial launch — typically used for a prototype not yet ready for public disclosure. Priced 10% higher than the equivalent Commercial Test.

Report validity, by category

Validity varies by machinery category — and ICT (Initial Commercial Test) validity isn’t always longer than the subsequent Batch Test validity.

Category	ICT validity	Batch test validity
Tractor	3 yrs	5 yrs
Power tiller	3 yrs	5 yrs
Combine harvester / crop, sugarcane, cotton picker	7 yrs	5 yrs
Self-propelled machinery	5 yrs	5 yrs
Tractor/power-tiller operated implements (tillage, sowing/planting, inter-culture, harvesting, thresher, baler/rake/reaper, post-hole digger)	7 yrs	5 yrs
Plant protection equipment — manual/battery operated	5 yrs	5 yrs
Plant protection equipment — tractor/engine operated	7 yrs	5 yrs
Post-harvest technology machinery (cleaner/grinder/washer/grader/polisher/separator)	7 yrs	5 yrs
Bullock-drawn/manual driven (incl. horticulture tools)	7 yrs	5 yrs

Batch quality-check sample size

For machines already approved and being supplied under a government scheme — not the count for your first test submission (see Documents needed).

Machinery costing up to ₹35,00020 units
Machinery costing ₹35,000 – ₹1,00,00010 units
Machinery costing ₹1,00,000 and above5 units
Combined harvesters3 units
Tractors and power tillers5 units
Any imported machinery5 units

What else to budget for

Fee rules that sit around the headline schedule — a partial test isn’t priced pro-rata, and a withdrawal isn’t refundable.

Confidential test premium — A confidential test costs 10% more than the fee applicable to the Initial Commercial Test for the same machine.
Confidential → Commercial conversion — An additional 50% of the Initial Commercial Test fee, deposited with the Director of the institute at the time of application — refunded if the conversion is not approved.
Withdrawal after submission — Once a machine is submitted for full test and the fee is deposited, withdrawing it earns no refund of the test fee.
How to pay — Online only, through the Government of India NTRP portal (bharatkosh.gov.in); the e-receipt is attached to the application.
GST — 18% on top of the test fee — FMTTI testing is classified as “Technical Testing and Analysis Service”, Chapter No. 998346.

Testing only part of the machine

If you need only some parameters tested rather than the full schedule, the fee is set by slab, not pro-rata — testing a single parameter still costs 40% of the full fee.

Scope of test	Fee charged
One test parameter only	40% of the full test fee
More than one parameter, up to 50% of the total test parameters	75% of the full test fee
Full laboratory test only, where both laboratory and field tests are prescribed	90% of the full test fee
Full field test only, where both laboratory and field tests are prescribed	90% of the full test fee

SRFMTTI published testing-charge notes and test regulations (srfmtti.dacnet.nic.in/Testing.html), issued under Ministry OM F.No. 13-14/2020-M&T(I&P)(C-82979), 31 January 2025. GST classification per letter C.No. V/19/14/2017/Stats-GST Queries, dated 11 August 2017, Office of the Assistant Commissioner of Central Tax, GST Division, Anantapur (A.P.).

Documents needed, with copy counts

That Order is explicit: an application that does not fulfil this requirement will be summarily rejected. The specification format is category-specific — confirm which one applies to your machine with your target institute before submitting.

#	Document	Copies
01	Application form, duly filled up	3 sets
02	Detailed technical specification in the institute's published format for your machine category, where one exists	3 sets
03	Declaration of selected performance characteristics, duly filled (per IS 13539:2008)	3 sets
04	Operator's manual	3 sets
05	Service manual	3 sets
06	Parts catalogue	3 sets
07	Fast-moving parts — tynes, shares, bolts, bearings, seals etc.	1 set
08	Other literature, if any	1 set
09	Photographs of the machine/implement/equipment	2 sets
10	Drawing / isometric view of the machine/implement/equipment	2 sets
11	Copy of the CMVR certificate, valid on the date of application (power tillers only)	1 set
12	Copy of the engine emission certificate, complete in all respects and valid on the date of application (power tillers only)	1 set
13	Test-fee payment receipt for the applicable machine category	1 set

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Order No. 13-37/2000-M&T(I&P), dated 8 March 2013, as published in SRFMTTI's testing document checklist (srfmtti.dacnet.nic.in/Testing.html).

Worked example: Power Tiller Initial Commercial Test

A real, itemised breakdown — SRFMTTI’s own signed schedule, effective 01.04.2026.

Specification / Initial Inspection₹22,693

Running-in (20 hours)₹76,888

Rotary Performance Test₹23,562

Brake Performance Test₹5,339

Drawbar Performance Test₹25,579

Noise Level Test₹9,066

Turning Ability Test₹3,442

Nominal Speed Test₹3,661

Haulage Test₹17,517

Field Test₹1,09,235

Torture Test₹7,229

Material Test & Chemical Composition₹9,735

Miscellaneous charges₹93,531

Total (with running-in)₹4,07,478

Total (without running-in)₹3,30,590

How AgPro helps — and what we don’t do

AgPro Consulting guides manufacturers and buyers through the entire FMTTI process: preparing test documentation, and providing guidance, consultation and information on institute liaison, scheduling, and interpreting results and compliance requirements against the scheme you’re targeting. The physical testing itself is always performed by FMTTI’s own engineers at their institute— AgPro’s role is guidance, not running the test rig ourselves.

Section 08

FMTTI — frequently asked questions

: FMTTI stands for Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute — a network of 4 institutes under India's Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare that trains operators and tests agricultural machinery for performance, safety and compliance.
: It's mandatory whenever you need scheme/subsidy eligibility (SMAM, RKVY, PKVY, CHC) or a tender requires it. Outside those cases it's optional but often still the most credible proof of performance available.
: Government-set testing charges for FY 2025-26 range from ₹30,514 (components/hand tools) to ₹2,96,783 (self-propelled transplanters, ride-on tool bars), per the Ministry's official fee schedule — GST is charged separately.
: It varies by machinery category — most Initial Commercial Test (ICT) reports run 5-7 years with a 5-year Batch Test validity after that, but tractors and power tillers are shorter (3 years ICT, 5 years Batch). See the full category-wise table on this page.
: BIS sets national product/safety standards; FMTTI institutes are where machinery is actually tested against performance and (for tractors) type-approval requirements. The two frequently work together rather than substitute for each other.
: Generally your region's FMTTI, though CFMTTI Budni specifically handles tractor type-approval nationally — AgPro confirms the right institute for your machine and scheme.
: No. AgPro provides guidance, consultation and information on the process on your behalf — documentation, scheduling, liaison and compliance interpretation. Testing is always conducted at the government institute, by its own engineers.

FMTTI, explained: what it is, what it tests, and how AgPro guides you through it.