Trying to reconcile all this with what I know about diesel combustion and on road emissions from my various Cummins engines.
Tractor designs only utilizing a DPF, the engineers have probably decided to run relatively rich mixtures and/or are running LOTS of exhaust gas re-circulation (EGR). Those factors reduce combustion temperatures, reducing both NOX and CO at the expense of soot production, which they then clean up with the DPF.
A design utilizing a DOC without DPF is probably running a relatively lean mixture with less EGR, reducing soot and hydrocarbon emissions at the expense of CO and NOX, the CO being cleaned up by the DOC. In the case of the Mahindra with the common rail direct injection, they're probably using multiple injection events to control the combustion process and thus emissions. As I understand their system it's roughly equivalent to an on road truck of the early to mid 2000s vintange. The 03-07 5.9L cummins was a common rail direct injection system with EGR and DOC.
The thing I"m seeing that I guess allows for just using a DOC or DPF and not both is that Tier IV has a combined standard for NOX and hydrocarbons instead of being separate values as in on road requirements. It gives a lot more flexibility in meeting the standards.
I'd also hesitate in directly comparing a DOC with a DPF in their operation. A DOC operates effectively at 300*C+ when a typical diesel EGT is in the 700-800*C range, with bursts over 1000*C. A DOC will operate all day every day just by operating the engine, they don't require any extra fuel.
A DPF in comparison typically requires 900*C just to start consuming soot and requires much higher to consume soot faster than it's produced. That's why they have regen cycles at all. Diesel is injected late in the exhaust stroke where it combusts in the exhaust effectively, driving up the temp to burn the soot. Even then the things still plug up eventually.
Given my experience with on road engines, I'd take a common rail direct injection engine with a DOC over a DPF equipped vehicle all day every day. DPFs are the most problematic emissions component on modern on road diesels. On top of that I wouldn't want a DPF without SCR to allow combustion parameters that minimize soot production to start with.
That's just my general view of the various methods, I don't have any experience with the Mahindra system. All my experience comes from the on road world.