NBC Bearings is a leading bearings manufacturer and exporter and is a part of the CK Birla Group. Founded in 1946, NBC produces over 150 million bearings each year across India and 29 other countries. AutoX had a quick chat with President and Chief Executive Officer Rohit Saboo at the Auto Expo 2018 Components.
How has the current financial year been for NBC Bearings?
This financial year has been fairly good for us because of two major reasons. Firstly, the latter half of 2017 has been very good for the Indian automobile industry. Secondly, the export market has been very positive for us. This year, we are beating the target and our estimates are seeing a grown of 20%, which is a big improvement from last year.
After seeing a growth of 20% this year, what’s your target for the next year?
We looking at a growth of 15%. Going by the growth we are currently seeing, we might beat our next year’s target as well.
What’s your take on this year’s budget?
If you look at the budget this year, it was mostly concentrated on the farm and the infrastructure sector. These two are base of the country. If these two sectors grow then automotive and tractor requirements grow, and if the farm income grows then the two-wheeler segment also grows, which then leads to the growth of the small car segment and ultimately the entire economy starts running. This is my personal take. I think if the government's spending and investing then this will have a positive impact on the economy.
How has GST simplified your business?
GST has actually streamlined the business procedure. It has solved a lot of issues for us that were present in the earlier system. Whether it was to do with transportation or various tax departments, it has aligned all this. When it came to implementation, it took us around one and a half years as various tinkering was required from the software front. There are still some minor issues, but overall we are quite satisfied with GST. We certainly think it is a great initiative and overall has eased the business tremendously.
When it comes to the automotive industry, what is NBC Bearings focused on?
Approximately, 60% of our profit comes from the automotive industry. Roughly 25-28% comes from the railways and the remaining come from industrial segments like steel, cement, motors etc. We see a growth in railways even though there’s a transition from diesel to electric. We hope to see a growth in the upcoming year as well.
In terms of global standards, how does the Indian industry stand?
Most of the global industries are here in India. When it comes to the luxury segment, they still import most of the parts, but the mid and affordable segment manufacture everything here. They have been responsible for developing the entire automobile segment here in India, especially Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, who have been the key players. The quality requirement for these companies has been top class. If you look at the two-wheeler market, even there the quality has improved with the presence of the European and American companies. So, I would say we are at a very good place as far as quality is concerned. That is the reason why in the last 10 years, automobile components export has grown by over 15 times from India. This is continuing to grow as our design capability is superb, manufacturing capability is world class, the quality is top notch, our understanding and adaptation of technology is very good. Therefore, we are in a very good position to provide world-class products at an optimum price. I personal belief is that ‘Make in India’ will flourish.
What are your biggest global export markets?
Our biggest export markets are Germany, Japan, USA and South Africa. We also export to countries like Brazil, SAARC nations, China, Italy, Belgium and a few African and South American countries.
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