See 15% topline growth in FY12: NRB Bearings

Below is the edited transcript of her interview with Reema Tendulkar and Ekta Batra of CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: There are some reports doing the round that the promoters are looking to increase the stake in the company. Could you tell us if that is true and by way of creeping acquisition have you all already acquired part of the stake?

A: Yes, we did this morning. But it is inter se promoter. We have just about 25% in the public. So, we cannot increase our stake from the public.

Q: How is business doing? We understand that 85% of your revenues are domestic based, how are you doing in the domestic market?

A: Domestic market, in certain sectors, has shown some slowdown. But the big advantage that we have in NRB is that we have huge diversity in our customer profile. Roughly 25% of our business comes from two wheelers and another 25% comes from CV.

The CV business is very diversified because a big chunk of it comes from overseas. So, a large percentage of our exports, which ranges anything between 8-15% depending on the growth or otherwise of the Indian market, is the CV market. Companies like Volvo, Renault and Daimler Truck not here but in Germany and Sweden. So, that is also very diversified. We also supply construction equipment and mining equipment.

Q: How exactly has the currency affected you?

A: Ford Fiesta, we recently launched globally the transmission bearings were designed by us. That all is in dollar. So, as far as revenues are concerned, it’s only helpful.

Q: Could you tell us the kind of growth rate that you are seeing with respect to your export orders? Although you do have a diversified client base, business per se at least from what we hear in the European zone is not looking that great. Could you tell us with this fiscal year what is the growth rate?

A: It is a matter of just adjusting our production plan. If we are planning for certain customers and if for some reason those customers or those markets show some kind of downtrend, we just have to adjust our plan accordingly and take it from there. For example, Ashok Leyland, Automotive Axel, Maruti, M&M SUVs etc are showing a slowdown. But, on other hand, tractors are doing fine.

Q: Could you quantify the kind of revenue growth you might see?

A: This particular quarter was slower. So, we would see some lowering of the growth figures on top-line. But in three-four months time, we can adjust. For the whole year, I am fairly hopeful that with diversified supply base we would be hitting about 15% growth still.