The bearing maker plans to double revenue to ₹2,500 crore by FY31, expand non-mobility verticals, accelerate JVs and acquisitions, and lift exports to 40% as it rebuilds after a fire-hit phase and family restructuring.
02 Dec 2025 | 2061 Views | By Darshan Nakhwa
NRB Bearings is preparing for its most aggressive expansion in a decade. The company has outlined a multi-year plan that aims to double revenue by FY31, increase exports, expand industrial and aerospace offerings, and accelerate joint ventures and acquisitions. The push comes after a period marked by a fire accident, ...
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NRB Bearings is preparing for its most aggressive expansion in a decade. The company has outlined a multi-year plan that aims to double revenue by FY31, increase exports, expand industrial and aerospace offerings, and accelerate joint ventures and acquisitions. The push comes after a period marked by a fire accident, lost volumes, a family demerger and volatile demand cycles.
According to Harshbeena Zaveri, the component maker's managing director, the firm is now entering a phase of stability, backed by strong financials and restored capacity. "We have almost no debt and EBITDA margins of over 20%. We are well on track towards our aspirational vision of ₹2,500 crore by 2031," she said.
Capex Cycle Begins
NRB has kicked off a ₹200-crore capex round to add capacity, modernise plants and prepare for a broader global footprint. Of this, ₹69 crore is being deployed for building expansion and Jalna refurbishment, while ₹129 crore is earmarked for plant and machinery. The new capacity will carry a revenue potential of ₹165 crore and is expected to be fully realised by FY30.
The company has also planned an expansion of ₹400-500 crore in subsequent phases, including new automation lines and deeper integration capabilities. This capex is part of a longer cycle.
The annual revenue milestones outlined by NRB Bearings show a clear glide path: ₹1,500 crore in FY27, ₹1,750 crore in FY28 and ₹2,000 crore in FY29, up from its current annual revenue base of roughly ₹1,200-1,300 crore. The management's vision to double revenue by FY31 is powered by both its core automotive business and a significantly larger contribution from non-mobility verticals. The company already holds lifetime nominations worth about ₹600 crore from global OEMs that will ramp up over the next five years, providing firm visibility for a substantial part of this growth plan.
Recovering From Disruptions
In 2023, a fire at the company's Waluj plant caused a business interruption loss of over ₹100 crore and forced the company to rebuild high-precision cranking capacity from scratch.
"We make an extremely high-quality product, probably one of the highest precision products that goes into the vehicle... We really did not want to take a chance because one of NRB's hallmarks is quality," Zaveri said.
The fire, followed by the family settlement and a demerger, slowed growth for nearly two years. But those issues are now behind the company. In the first half of FY26, the company's consolidated EBITDA margin stood at 20.3%, while PAT climbed 19% year-on-year.
GST 2.0 and Demand Tailwind
The 2025 GST reforms have arrived as a cyclical kicker just as NRB's rebuilt facilities and capex cycle ramp up. About 40% of the company's revenue comes from tractors and two-wheelers. The latest tax cuts sharply reduce levies on commuter bikes and entry-level passenger vehicles, and Zaveri believes this is "a transformative moment for India's manufacturing landscape."
"We are already noticing a demand surge in our order book for the next quarter across all segments," she said. "The kick-off of our capex expansion this quarter is well-timed and we are working on speeding up augmentation of capacities in those products for which we are seeing a demand uptick."
In the domestic mix today, two-wheelers account for roughly 30-35% of the company's revenue, trucks about 33%, and passenger vehicles 15-20%, with the rest coming from off-highway and industrial. NRB expects to outgrow the underlying industry in each of these segments, helped by its position as a high-share, often sole or dominant supplier on key platforms and its willingness to hold higher inventories and machine capacity to support sudden volume spikes.
Export Ambitions
NRB already supplies customers in 43 countries and generates about a quarter of its revenue from exports. Last year, the mix was roughly 30% exports and 70% domestic; the target is to shift this to 40:60 by the end of the decade.
Unlike many homegrown component makers that rely on direct exports, NRB operates as an "Indian multinational" with a layered subsidiary structure. The Indian parent owns a 100% subsidiary in Dubai's DIFC, which in turn owns operating arms in key markets, including Germany, the US and Thailand. Products are exported to NRB's own local companies, which then sell to OEMs at market prices using international transfer-pricing norms.
Geographically, the company is keen to avoid concentration. It manufactures in India and Thailand and is working on a "Make in USA" strategy that, Zaveri stresses, has to be viable even without tariff protection. "All countries are going to try to buy more from their own country," she said. "Our financial calculations for success cannot be based on tariffs. It should be able to succeed irrespective of tariffs."
Thailand, where NRB runs a fully integrated manufacturing plant rather than an assembly base, acts as both an ASEAN hub and a disaster-recovery backup for Indian operations. The facility has helped clinch marquee Japanese and Korean customers.
Managing Uncertainty
Global macro uncertainty, tariff spats and shifting trade blocs remain a constant backdrop. Rather than betting on specific outcomes, NRB is trying to hedge across technologies, segments and geographies.
"We don't try to predict if ICE will stay longer than expected, or hybrids will do better, or hydrogen will take off," Zaveri says. "We have all of the above. If one does better, we make more for that segment. If one comes down, we divert that capacity from X to Y."
The same logic applies to markets: if ASEAN, Korea or Europe see higher growth, NRB Bearings plans to tilt capacity and incremental investment towards those regions. If tariffs in a particular market become prohibitive, it can shift export production to Thailand or, in future, to a US facility.
Underpinning all of this is a conservatively run balance sheet and a culture that still prizes engineering depth. The company operates seven manufacturing plants across India and Thailand, uses over 70 robotic lines for precision processes, and runs three R&D centres totalling more than 36,000 sq ft and 70-plus engineers.
Joint Ventures, Acquisitions
To accelerate its move into new segments and geographies, NRB is lining up a string of joint ventures and small acquisitions. Zaveri said the company is in talks with six or seven potential partners worldwide, though she declined to name them. The emphasis is on "plug-and-play" deals—not transformative, highly leveraged takeovers, but targeted purchases that bring in a specific technology, certification or market in quick time.
"We are not going to acquire some big fat company and then have a big challenge trying to manage it," she said. "Anything that allows us to do a ₹50-crore or ₹100-crore acquisition, something very manageable, but helps us reach our ₹2,500-crore vision faster or even make that vision bigger by ₹300-400 crore, that is what we are considering."
Joint ventures, particularly with European companies that are looking at India as a competitive manufacturing base, are another lever. For such partners, NRB's engineering, automation and supply-chain capabilities offer a ready-made platform. For NRB, JVs provide rapid access to customers and product lines that would otherwise take years to cultivate.
Positioned for Multi-Year Run
NRB is entering its next phase with stronger balance-sheet metrics, restored capacity, new expansion underway and clearer visibility from lifetime nominations of ₹600 crore from global customers. The company expects stable double-digit growth without sacrificing margins.
"No technology transition can displace NRB," Zaveri said. "We are benefiting from the shift and building for the next decade."