NRB Bearings Sees Non-auto Revenue Rising

NRB Bearings Sees Non-auto Revenue Rising NRB Bearings Ltd. expects its non-automotive business to make up a quarter of its revenue by 2010 as it looks to diversify its auto-heavy portfolio, a senior official said on Thursday. The company now gets under a tenth of its revenue from non-auto applications such as switch gears, bearings for all-terrain vehicles, machinery and consumer durables, NRB's president Harshbeena S. Zaveri said on the sidelines of a conference."We believe in a philosophy of diversification," she said. "We plan to earmark fresh capacity for non-auto applications." NRB is investing 200 million rupees each to set up a plant in Uttarakhand and in Thailand. The plants will become operational by April 2008, she said. The company, which counts Renault, Bajaj Auto Ltd. and Tata Motors Ltd. as its top customers, was looking at non-auto segment to capitalise on higher margins, Zaveri said.NRB reported a net profit of 397.6 million rupees on net sales of 3 billion rupees in the year to March 2007. Indian auto parts makers such as Bharat Forge Ltd., Amtek Auto Ltd. and Rico Auto Industries Ltd. are eyeing a larger share from non-auto to offset the cyclical demand for automobiles.Car sales growth has slipped to 12.3 percent and two-wheeler sales fell 9.2 percent in April-July hit by high interest rates, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Auto sales have grown by more than 20 percent over the past two years. NRB shares closed half a percent up at 92.50 rupees in the Mumbai market.