The company name is a syllabic abbreviation of Rostovskiy zavod sel'skokhozyaystvennykh mashin (Russian: Ростовский завод сельскохозяйственных машин), the Rostov factory for agricultural machines.

[5] During Operation Barbarosa, Rostselmash dismantled its plant in Rostov-on-Don, and relocated in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.

When Vladimir Putin gathered his advisers for a meeting on the development of regional industry earlier this year, they met at Rostselmash.

[10] In early 2024, it was announced that RostSelMash had sold all shares of Versatile Tractors (Buhler Industries) to Turkish-based Basak Traktor, which is a subsidiary of ASKO Holdings.

The Niva is a 155 hp harvester developed in the Soviet era, and is available only in Eastern Europe and Africa.

In September 2021, Rostselmash announced it would develop and manufacture road building machinery, with sales planned to begin in 2023.