Agrinas Imports Pickup Trucks Without Parliamentary Coordination
Parliament’s Commission VI has criticised PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara’s policy regarding the import of hundreds of thousands of pickup vehicles from India for the Red-White Village Cooperatives (Koperasi Desa Merah Putih), a decision made without coordination with Parliament.
“Agrinas never mentioned the type and qualifications of Red-White Village Cooperative vehicles,” said Commission VI member Herman Khaeron at the Complex of the House of Representatives, Regional Consultative Assembly and Regional Representative Council on Thursday, 26 February 2026.
As Agrinas’s business partner, he continued, Joao Angelo De Sousa Mota did present the budget allocation for the Red-White Village Cooperative project during a public hearing session.
During that session, Agrinas indicated the budget would be allocated for retail outlet development, working capital expenditure, and infrastructure support, including transportation expenses.
The problem, however, is that the infrastructure spending was not coordinated with Parliament beforehand. Suddenly, Herman noted, media reports flooded the internet and social media stating that pickup vehicles imported by Agrinas from India had arrived in Jakarta.
“This budget is very substantial and should have been discussed with Parliament first,” said the Democratic Party General Secretary.
The news of Agrinas’s pickup truck imports was announced by Indian automotive company Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) on their company website on 4 February 2026. M&M announced plans to supply 35,000 Scorpio pickup units. Six days later, Tata Motors Limited announced plans to export 70,000 pickup units to Indonesia.
At a press conference on 24 February, PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara’s Chief Executive Officer Joao Angelo De Sousa Mota stated that the 4x4 pickup vehicles are intended for 70,000 Red-White Village Cooperatives, primarily to transport agricultural products to market.
Initially, he claimed, he had questioned why the Red-White Village Cooperatives needed vehicles. “However, after understanding the President’s vision of how to connect farmers directly with consumers to achieve fair prices, I realised the importance,” Joao said.
He explained that the price of 4x4 pickup vehicles domestically is quite expensive, with e-catalogue prices reaching Rp 528 million per unit. Even 4x2 specification vehicles remain costly and do not align with the limited incomes of farmers.
Taking these considerations into account, Agrinas decided to import pickup vehicles from India. Another factor, Joao noted, is that the imported vehicles have greater cargo capacity, reaching 1.2 tonnes.