Country’s leading auto parts maker Bharat Forge has set ambitious growth plans for emerging business segments such as e-mobility, defence and aerospace as the company bets big on its R&D capabilities and resilient business model it has built over the years.

The ₹6,336-crore company said the new business verticals such as e-mobility, light weighting, defence and aerospace and turbomachinery have been conceived keeping in mind the future growth. In the past few years, the company has been nurturing the new business areas by providing the right ingredients – capital to invest in technology and people and access to R&D set-up. It has also been upskilling and reskilling people in line with the requirements of the future.

“As we go deeper into defence, e-mobility, light-weight materials and industrial beyond the existing business, the challenges will be different from what we have faced so far. It will entail creating a talent pool with completely new skill sets and intensifying research and innovation. It is because of this that we have put these businesses under separate companies which employ a large number of young engineers having expertise in software designing,” BN Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director said in the company’s latest annual report.

Plans for different verticals

Led by its primary R&D centres – Kalyani Centre for Technology and Innovation (KCTI) and Kalyani Centre for Manufacturing Innovation (KCMI) – the company continues to lay strong emphasis on research and innovation. It has solid manufacturing capabilities with 6 factories in India, 4 in Europe and 2 in North America.

Under the e-mobility vertical, the company aims to achieve 5-6 per cent market share by 2025 in two-wheeler, three-wheeler and commercial vehicle (buses and trucks) segments. It has devised business strategies around ‘Making Locally but Selling Globally’. In FY20, it commenced work for localising electric powertrain for intermediate and light commercial vehicle (ILCV) and certain bus segments in India.

In light-weighting business, Bharat Forge aims to be a one-stop shop for all light-weighting requirements. It seeks to focus on development of structural parts for customers globally across automotive and industrial sectors. Stricter emission norms and growing momentum for EVs will throw up huge opportunities for light-weight materials.

In defence, which is a 10-year-old business now, the company intends to emerge as a major defence product supplier in India and globally. Its strategy will be to ‘Make in India’ for the world. In FY21, it completed trials for a few of its defence logistics vehicles and in a couple of other areas and secured a contract for its Kalyani M4 armoured vehicles from the Army.

The Pune-headquartered company has been supplying engine and structural components to 4 major OEMs in the aerospace segment. It is looking at opportunities for acquisitions or tie-ups with other suppliers across the globe. Its strategy is to move from a component supplier to a sub-assembly supplier both for the domestic defence and global commercial aviation sector.