Bearing Manufacturers in India (2026): 10 Major Makers Compared by Plants, Products and Ownership

As of 2026, India's bearing industry is led by three MNC subsidiaries, Schaeffler India (about Rs 9,700 crore revenue in CY2025), the two listed SKF companies (roughly Rs 7,200 crore combined, FY26) and Timken India (about Rs 3,400 crore, FY26), followed by Indian-owned NBC, NRB, Menon, Bimetal and Galaxy. This post compares all of them by plant, product and segment.

Which are the biggest bearing manufacturers in India right now?

By revenue, Schaeffler India is the largest bearing company in India in 2026, ahead of the SKF group (now split into two listed entities) and Timken India; the biggest Indian-owned maker is NBC Bearings of the CK Birla Group, which is unlisted. Revenue figures below are rounded bands from consolidated filings on screener.in, as of 2026.

Two things changed in this list since most older roundups were written.

First, SKF is no longer one company. SKF India Ltd demerged its industrial business effective 1 October 2025, and SKF India (Industrial) Ltd listed on the NSE and BSE on 5 December 2025 (Autocar Professional, SKF investors page). The automotive entity keeps the Pune, Bengaluru and Haridwar plants; the industrial entity has announced Rs 800-950 crore of investment by 2030, including a new Pune plant by 2028. SKF as a group counts six manufacturing units across all its Indian entities, and its India page now lists 12 offices and over 450 distributors, up from the 300-odd quoted a few years ago.

Second, Schaeffler pulled clearly ahead. Older lists treat "FAG Bearings" as a mid-sized bearing maker. The company was renamed Schaeffler India on 7 July 2017, absorbed INA India and LuK India in 2018, and opened its fifth plant at Shoolagiri, Tamil Nadu on 28 May 2025 after investing Rs 1,700 crore between 2022 and 2024 (Schaeffler India press release). It now runs 5 plants, 3 R&D centres and 7 sales offices with 3,700-plus employees.

Timken's story also needs a 2026 correction. It began in 1987 as Tata Timken Ltd, a 40:40 joint venture between TISCO and The Timken Company. Timken bought Tata Steel's stake in 1999 and renamed the company Timken India Ltd, so calling it a Tata JV today is wrong. It is a Timken Company subsidiary.

What does each major bearing company actually make?

Most of the companies above make rolling-element bearings (balls or rollers between two races), but Menon and Bimetal make plain engine bearings, a different product for a different buyer, so the two groups are listed separately.

Rolling-element bearing makers

Schaeffler India sells three brands from one balance sheet. FAG covers ball, cylindrical roller, spherical roller and wheel bearings out of Vadodara. INA makes needle roller bearings and engine and transmission components at Talegaon near Pune. LuK makes clutches and dual-mass flywheels at Hosur, and the new Shoolagiri plant builds powertrain and chassis parts for conventional and hybrid vehicles. It also runs a large aftermarket network and industrial engineering services.

SKF India Ltd traces its Indian presence to a Kolkata trading office in 1923 and its first plant at Chinchwad, Pune in 1965. Post-demerger it is the automotive business: wheel-end, two-wheeler and EV bearings, with Rs 410-510 crore earmarked for Haridwar, Pune and Bengaluru. SKF India (Industrial) takes the industrial bearings side. SKF Technologies (India), which houses the Global Technical Centre in Bengaluru, and SKF Engineering and Lubrication India complete the four SKF entities operating in India as of 2026.

Timken India is the tapered roller bearing specialist. Jamshedpur started commercial production in March 1992, Chengalpattu near Chennai (2008) makes large-bore bearings in an SEZ, and the Bharuch site in Gujarat came through the 2018 acquisition of ABC Bearings, with a second Bharuch plant commissioned in 2025 for spherical and cylindrical roller bearings. Its Bengaluru technology centre, set up in 1998, is one of four Timken research centres worldwide. Sales offices as of 2026: Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, Pune and Ahmedabad, with six warehouses.

NRB Bearings, founded in 1965 as an Indo-French venture with Nadella, pioneered needle roller bearings in India and still leads that niche. It also makes cylindrical roller, taper roller, special ball and thrust bearings, with over 3,000 designs for mobility customers. The group includes SNL Bearings (73.45 percent held, listed), NRB Bearings Thailand, NRB Bearings Europe GmbH in Stuttgart and a US arm. NRB Industrial Bearings Ltd is a separately listed company that was demerged from NRB, so do not confuse the two when reading filings.

NBC Bearings is the brand of National Engineering Industries Ltd, founded in 1946 in Jaipur and part of the CK Birla Group. It operates four main plants at Jaipur, Newai (Gunsi) and Bagru in Rajasthan and Savli near Vadodara in Gujarat, exports to more than 30 countries, and owns Kinex in Slovakia. Segments: automotive OEM and aftermarket, railways, industrial, and more recently aerospace and defence. NEI says it is the only bearing maker to have won the Deming Grand Prize.

Galaxy Bearings in Rajkot makes tapered roller bearings (single and double row), cylindrical roller bearings and wheel hub bearings. Incorporated in 1990 and producing bearings since 1994, it is the listed face of the Rajkot cluster, though its sales fell to about Rs 68 crore in FY26 from roughly Rs 127 crore in FY24.

Plain and engine bearing makers

Bimetal Bearings (Chennai, Coimbatore, Hosur) was established in 1961 with Clevite of the USA and Repco of Australia and is now an Amalgamations Group company. It makes crankshaft, connecting-rod and thrust engine bearings, bushings, thrust washers, pre-alloyed metal powders and bimetallic strips, and has added battery packs as a newer line. If you are sourcing bimetal strip or engine half-shells rather than rolling bearings, this is the name, and the copper manufacturers in India post covers the upstream metal suppliers that feed this segment.

Menon Bearings (Kolhapur, since 1991) makes engine bearings, bushes, thrust washers and flange bearings for LCV and HCV engines, two- and three-wheelers, tractors and off-highway equipment, compressors, gensets, pumps and marine engines, from five units on 27 acres at Gokul Shirgaon. It exports to more than 24 countries and holds IATF 16949.

Who are the Indian-owned and SME bearing makers worth knowing?

Beyond the listed names, India's bearing supply runs through a handful of regional clusters, and Rajkot in Gujarat is by far the largest by number of units.

Rajkot, Gujarat. The last detailed survey, a TERI-SDC cluster profile using 2015-16 data, counted roughly 150 bearing units in Rajkot: about 25 cage makers, 35 rolling-element makers and 90 assembly units, supporting around 15,000 jobs. Newer counts are not published, so treat these as an order of magnitude. Galaxy Bearings at Shapar is the listed representative; most of the rest are proprietorships and partnerships selling under their own brands or as unbranded stock.

Jaipur, Rajasthan. NBC's home base, with its Jaipur, Newai and Bagru plants anchoring the state's bearing output.

Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Menon Bearings and the wider Menon group (die-castings, brakes) sit in a foundry and auto-component belt that serves Pune and Aurangabad OEMs.

Chennai-Hosur, Tamil Nadu. Bimetal Bearings, Timken's Chengalpattu SEZ plant, and Schaeffler's Hosur and Shoolagiri plants.

Delhi NCR. Smaller private brands such as MBP Bearings (Shalimar Industrial Area, IATF 16949:2016 certified) cover a broad aftermarket catalogue: taper roller, deep groove ball, cylindrical, spherical and needle roller, angular contact, thrust, clutch release, self-aligning, water pump and UC/UCP pillow block bearings, plus universal joints, housings and sleeves. For a wider view of the capital's industrial estates, see the list of manufacturing companies in Delhi.

When does an SME supplier beat an MNC? In three cases. One, standard sizes in tractors, trailers, pumps and fans, where a Rajkot taper roller at a lower landed price is good enough and the failure cost is low. Two, short runs or odd sizes that an MNC will not quote below a minimum order quantity. Three, lead time: a cluster unit with stock can ship in days while an imported size may sit on a long factory schedule. Where the SME loses is on traceability, consistency of heat treatment and warranty support, which matters for anything that spins fast, runs hot or stops a production line when it fails.

How big is India's bearing market and where is it headed?

India imports more bearings than it exports, and that gap is the clearest number in the market: trade-press estimates put bearing imports at roughly USD 1.4 billion in FY2023-24 against exports of about USD 0.9 billion (Bearing News, April 2025), with domestic plants running at 70-80 percent capacity utilisation.

On market size, estimates diverge too widely to quote one figure. IMARC Group values the total Indian bearings market at about USD 5.2 billion in 2025, growing near 9.7 percent a year to 2034; Bearing News counts only ball and roller bearings at about USD 2.5 billion in 2025 with 6-8 percent growth to 2028. Both agree on the shape: automotive takes around half of demand, industrial around 30 percent, railways and the rest the balance, and western India accounts for close to 40 percent of consumption. Ball bearings alone are 48.6 percent of the market by product type (IMARC, 2025).

China is the largest source of imports. UN Comtrade data via Trading Economics shows about USD 746 million of ball and roller bearings imported from China in calendar 2025, followed by Germany and Japan. Low-priced imported deep groove ball bearings in the aftermarket are the direct competition for Rajkot units.

Two demand shifts explain the new capacity described above. Electric vehicles need fewer engine bearings but more high-speed, low-noise bearings for motors and e-axles, which is where SKF's Rs 410-510 crore automotive plan and Schaeffler's Shoolagiri plant are pointed. Railways remain a core segment for Timken, NBC and SKF Industrial on large-bore taper and roller bearings. On incentives: there is no verified evidence that conventional bearings qualify under the PLI scheme for automobiles, so any supplier claiming PLI-backed pricing should be asked for the approval letter.

The rulebook changed too. Until recently anyone could import or sell an unmarked bearing; the Bearings (Quality Control) Order, 2025, issued by DPIIT, makes BIS (ISI mark) certification mandatory for 12 bearing categories, including taper roller (IS 12102), deep groove ball (IS 6455), cylindrical roller (IS 6457/6458), self-aligning roller (IS 6454), double-row ball (IS 6456), needle (IS 4215), thin- and thick-walled plain bearings (IS 10203/14478), thrust washers (IS 9764) and sintered bearings (IS 3980). It phases in six months after gazette publication for large and medium firms, nine for small and twelve for micro enterprises, with exemptions for export production and up to 200 R&D import units a year. Check the current status with BIS or your CA before relying on it, since the dates in the notified text govern.

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How do you choose a bearing supplier or brand?

Choose by application first, then by channel: OEM-fit duty goes to the brand that designed for it, commodity replacement can go to a certified Indian maker, and everything should come through an authorised distributor with a BIS licence number and a verifiable pack code.

OEM vs aftermarket. If the bearing is in a gearbox, wheel hub or motor that the OEM validated with a specific brand (often Schaeffler, SKF, Timken, NRB or NBC), replace like for like. The aftermarket is where Indian brands and cluster products compete on price, and where the quality order now draws a line.

Counterfeit risk is real and recent. Schaeffler India's raids at Kashmiri Gate, Delhi between 4 and 7 November 2025 seized thousands of fake FAG bearings (ET Auto), and Hyderabad police seized around 2,000 fake SKF bearings in Raniganj and Secunderabad in February 2026 (NewsMeter). Fakes come in genuine-looking boxes. Schaeffler's OriginCheck app lets you scan the pack code; brands publish authorised distributor lists. A price far below the distributor's rate is the tell.

Distributor route. The MNCs sell through appointed distributors (SKF alone lists 450-plus) and do not entertain small direct orders. For a workshop or small factory, pick one authorised distributor per brand, ask for the brand's authorisation certificate, and buy from them even when a market trader is cheaper. Distributors also handle warranty claims, which a trader will not.

Certifications to ask for, as of 2026:

For an engineering student or a new distributor, the short version: Schaeffler, SKF and Timken for validated OEM and heavy industrial duty; NBC and NRB when you want an Indian-owned maker with OEM pedigree; Menon and Bimetal for engine plain bearings; Rajkot and Delhi SMEs for price-led standard sizes, with the ISI mark now the filter.

FAQs

What is the function of a bearing?

A bearing reduces friction between moving parts, supports a rotating or sliding part so it stays aligned, and carries the load from that part to the housing. Without bearings, shafts would wear out fast and machines would need far more power to run.

What are the main types of bearings?

There are five main categories: plain bearings (no rolling elements, used in engines), ball bearings, roller bearings (taper, cylindrical, spherical, needle), fluid bearings and magnetic bearings. Ball and roller bearings are what most Indian manufacturers make.

Which bearing type is the most common?

The deep groove ball bearing is the most widely used type. Ball bearings made up about 48.6 percent of the Indian bearings market by product type in 2025 (IMARC Group), and they appear in everything from ceiling fans to electric motors and two-wheeler wheels.

Which bearings are used in vehicles?

Vehicles use taper roller bearings in wheel hubs and differentials, needle roller bearings in gearboxes and connecting rods, deep groove ball bearings in alternators, motors and wheels, and plain engine bearings on the crankshaft and connecting rods.

Who is the largest Indian-owned bearing manufacturer?

NBC Bearings (National Engineering Industries, CK Birla Group, Jaipur) is the largest Indian-owned bearing maker by footprint, with four main plants and exports to over 30 countries, though it is unlisted and does not publish revenue. Among listed Indian-owned makers, NRB Bearings is the largest at about Rs 1,335 crore in FY26 sales.