NEI plans to invest Rs 100 cr in Rajasthan

National Engineering Industries Ltd (NEI), a Jaipur-based GP-CK Birla group company, is likely to invest around Rs 100 crore to upgrade its facilities in next three years.

The company aimed at being the most cost effective and best quality-bearing producer and to achieve that it had planned to upgrade facilities, said BG Mundhra, president of the NEI.

According to Mundhra, with 20 per cent of the market share, the company holds number two slot in the country and has a gross turnover of Rs 333.18 crore.

He said OE customers accounted for 70 per cent of sales and the replacement market, 30 per cent.

Mundhra said the company was looking at new avenues like development of DRAC bearings and pillow blocks.

For the past five years, around 20 per cent of sales was coming from development of new products. In 2003-04, the company developed bearings in 32 new sizes.

"We plan to export bearings worth Rs 14 crore to the US, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh in 2004-05. We expect to take our gross turnover to Rs 500 crore by 2007-08," Mundhra said.

Set up by BM Birla in 1946, NEI produces ball bearings, tapered roller bearings, and cylindrical and spherical roller bearings under the NBC brand name in technical collaboration with the NTN Corporation of Japan.

The company also manufactures cartridge tapered roller bearings for railways in technical collaboration with Brenco of the US.

The company manufactures nearly 30 million bearings a year in over 500 different sizes ranging from 6 mm bore to 2,000 mm outer diameter.