'There will be a hockey stick effect in India's EV sales': Rohit Saboo, NBC Bearings

NBC Bearings, which is part of the CK Birla Group, and a leading supplier of bearings for various applications to the automotive industry, is eyeing the shift towards electrification and developing new-age solutions to cater to the industry's transformed needs. 

The company gauged the EV trend, and started investing in EV-specific bearings six years ago. While it is presently supplying these products to OEMs in both domestic as well as overseas markets like Europe, going forward, NBC Bearings aims to focus its new product development on low-friction bearings that would be suitable for both ICE and EVs.

According to Rohit Saboo, President and CEO, NBC Bearings, "At the moment, there is a higher adoption of electrification in 2Ws than four-wheelers. More localisation will be key to lower the cost of EVs and strengthen their adoption. While the growth momentum can see some temporary blips, with a low overall EV penetration in India, EV sales are only bound to grow in the future."

"As costs come down, there will be a hockey-stick effect in EV sales in India," Saboo explains.

"As far as NBC is concerned, we invested in EV bearings more than six years ago, and were ready for the industry when the EV sales started picking up. We are currently supplying bearings to all the EV manufacturers in India as well as to some overseas markets," he adds in this video interview.

Saboo further points out that the company has recently commissioned its latest fifth plant near Jaipur in Rajasthan, and will be predominantly undertaking the major capex investments in this facility which has the capacity for 18 manufacturing lines. 

VIDEO: