Benara ties up with MAHLE

Firm to market MAHLE's piston assemblies through its different branches

Agra-based Benara Bearings & Pistons Ltd, engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of piston assemblies in Southeast Asia, has struck a partnership with MAHLE, a Stuttgart-based group, to market the MAHLE piston assemblies through its branches in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

The partnership is expected to be formally "launched" on July 27 in the entire Southeast Asian region.

Speaking to Business Standard, Vivek Benara, the group managing director, said MAHLE was a Fortune 500 company, providing jobs to more than 38,000 employees worldwide in its 70 production sites, with an annual turnover of more than $3.5 billion.

He said the MAHLE group was a leader in the production of engine parts, filter systems and valve train systems and the world's no 1 company in piston assembly manufacturing under the same brand name.

Earlier, the group was marketing its products in India in collaboration with the Escorts group, but after the tie up was broken two and a half years back, this was the company's re-entry into the Indian market, Benara added.

The Benara group is also engaged in the production and marketing of bi-metallic engine bearings, bi-metallic bushes and bi-metallic strips for HCV, LCV, passenger cars and tractor engines in the country for the past 35 years, with an annual turnover of Rs 120 crore.

However, there is a significant void for engine accessories in the Indian automotive market, which the company hopes to fill through this joint venture.

Benara said the bearings and bushes manufactured by the company were even incorporated in the liquid and aircooled diesel and petrol engines, manufactured by the Italian automotive group Lombardini and the US group Cummins Inc, besides Telco and Ashok Leyland.

Besides, this partnership would also come to the advantage of the Benara group's clients like Mahindra, Hindustan Motors, Eicher, Escorts and tractor manufacturing companies like Sonalika and HMT, the Indian Railways and the defence sector, he added.

He said the new product range, scheduled to be launched on July 27 by the company in collaboration with MAHLE, would enter the Indian market simultaneously from the company's branches in Kolkata, Rajkot, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Indore.

Initially, the joint collaboration would only concentrate in the marketing of MAHLE products in India but later on, the two companies would also arrive on a technology transfer deal, in which, the MAHLE products would be manufactured in the Benara group's extensive manufacturing facility in Agra, Benara added.

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In deal

• The partnership is expected to be formally launched on July 27 in Southeast Asia
• After Benara's break-up with the Escorts group two and a half years back, this is cited as the company's re-entry into the Indian market
• Benara hopes to fill the significant void for engine accessories in the Indian automotive market through this joint venture
• The partnership is expected to benefit the Benara group's clients including Mahindra, Hindustan Motors, and Eicher