How Schaeffler India Moved Beyond Components To Deliver End-To-End Solutions

German global automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler views India as one of its most important global markets. A key player in the component industry, Schaeffler has consistently delivered double-digit year-on-year growth in India. From individual components supplier to integrated, system-level solutions, Schaeffler's decade-long uptick is filled with core engineering in key verticals. NDTV AutoMate talked to Harsha Kadam, CEO and MD, Schaeffler India, to understand the road ahead for the brand. Excerpts from the interview:

Schaeffler has been in India for nearly a decade with a focused growth strategy. How has the journey been so far

Schaeffler has had a very strong and fulfilling growth journey in India. Globally, the company sees India as an extremely important market, and the geopolitical shifts of recent years have only strengthened that belief. India has truly become the pivot where a lot of action is happening.

Over the last decade, we have consistently maintained a double-digit growth rate year-on-year. This has been supported by continuous investments, typically between 500 and 800 crore rupees annually, and in some years even up to 1,000 crore. These investments have gone into expanding our production capacities to ensure we stay ahead of the market curve. We intend to continue this momentum strategically in the future as well.

What are the key learnings for Schaeffler from the Indian market? Shed some light on the road ahead.

Our focus has not been limited to manufacturing. We have also invested heavily in intellectual capital. A key part of our journey has been upskilling people and building new competencies as our portfolio has expanded. We have shifted from being purely a mechanical product company to one that also includes electronics and software-driven portfolios, enabled partly through mergers and acquisitions.

Overall, we've transitioned from offering individual components to delivering system-level solutions. This evolution has allowed us to enhance value for all stakeholders, especially our customers.

India is a highly competitive market, especially with a strong base of homegrown OEMs. How important has R&D been for Schaeffler in India?
R&D plays a central role in our India strategy. Since we have long been manufacturing in India, localization naturally became one of our key pillars. This also extended into product R&D.

We have invested significantly in design, development, homologation, validation, and testing infrastructure so that we remain close to our customers. This proximity helps reduce costs and improves speed-we can now develop and deliver new products much faster.

But we didn't stop there. We made deeper investments in core engineering capabilities. Today, we have two major engineering facilities-one in Pune and one in Bengaluru-together employing close to 2,600 engineers working on design, development, and core engineering programs.

We have also brought core competency for key product verticals into India. For example, in our bearings portfolio, the cylindrical roller bearing segment is one of our largest, and the complete engineering, design, development, and manufacturing happen right here in India.

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Beyond bearings, how is Schaeffler building engineering strength across other verticals, including two-wheelers?

We are working on building engineering competencies for vehicle lifetime solutions and looking at how we can bring more advanced product capabilities into India.

The two-wheeler segment is a particularly important market for this part of the world, and we have already built strong infrastructure in our Bengaluru facility for engineering, design, development, homologation, validation, and testing.
Innovation remains at the core of what Schaeffler does, and India has steadily grown into an integral part of our global engineering ecosystem.