In 2019, automotive sales in India declined with the fall in GDP growth rate and low consumer sentiments. The automotive industry faced another blow in the first half of 2020 after the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, the demand for automotive bearings declined. However, the scenario changed in the second half of 2020 as the economic activities started picking up with the removal of the various restrictions imposed in the first half.

The automotive retail sales began to grow Y-o-Y from November 2020 and the passenger vehicle sales had Y-o-Y growth of 9%. This restricted the fall in passenger vehicles sales in FY21 to about 2%, compared to the previous year.

The increasing preference for personal mobility in the post-COVID period will boost the growth of automobiles and components such as bearings. Additionally, the Indian automotive bearings market is expected to benefit from the shift of production lines of the global automotive bearings manufacturers to the emerging economies.

Nachi-Fujikoshi, a prominent manufacturer of automotive bearings, has announced its plan to move its production of general-purpose bearings from Japan and Taiwan to Thailand. The move is to reduce production costs for automotive bearings. The recent introduction of production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes for automotive components by the government of India will play a crucial role in attracting global players to set up manufacturing facilities in India.

The growing demand for light-weight and durable bearings from the automotive industry is leading the prominent bearing manufacturers such as SKF India, Schaeffler India, and NRB Bearings to focus on adopting new raw materials, instead of traditional high-grade steel. For instance, SKF India is manufacturing automotive bearings with alloys that are 10%-12% lighter than traditional bearings made from high-grade steel. The vendors are increasing spending on R&D for the development of lightweight technology. In 2019, Schaeffler India spent 1.34% of revenue on R & D.