SKF India
From Import Agent to Make in India Pioneer — 100 Years, One Bearing at a Time
THE MOMENT
On a railway platform in Bengaluru in 2023, a metro train arrives carrying a small badge that its passengers will never notice: a Bogie Axlebox bearing, manufactured in India, localised by SKF. The award plaque on the wall of SKF's Pune factory is more visible: 'Bearings for Rolling Stock Excellence Award — 100% share of business in Bengaluru and Noida Metro projects.'
It has taken exactly a century — from 1923 when SKF set up an import trading post in Calcutta, to 2023 when it won 100% of a major metro project with locally manufactured bearings — for SKF India's transformation to be complete. The journey is a textbook study in how a multinational subsidiary evolves from importer to local manufacturer to regional technology hub.
The Turnaround at a Glance
SKF India
Timeline
1923
SKF begins India operations as a trading post in Calcutta; imports automotive bearings
1961
SKF India incorporated as a joint venture with Associated Bearing Co. and Investment Corp.
1963
First bearing factory commissioned in Pune — start of domestic manufacturing
1989
Second plant launched in Bengaluru; DGBB production begins for automotive sector
2004
First company in Indian bearing industry to achieve ISO/TS-16949 quality certification
2009
SKF inaugurates India's first 'Solution Factory' in Pune — services and remanufacturing added
Before → After
India Revenue
Manufacturing Plants
Industrial Import Dependency
Services Revenue
The Playbook Move
MOVE 5 — FIX THE FACTORY FLOOR
SKF India spent a century upgrading from importer to trader to licensed manufacturer to solutions provider — each transition driven by a deliberate decision to invest in Indian manufacturing capability until the Indian factory became indistinguishable from the parent's best global plant.
“Localisation is no longer a plan — it is a reality. With new manufacturing channels operational, we've shifted from planning to execution.”
— Mukund Vasudevan, President – India & Southeast Asia, SKF India (Industrial)
THE COMPANY BEFORE
SKF is the world's largest bearing manufacturer, founded in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1907 when engineer Sven Wingquist invented the self-aligning ball bearing. Its India journey began in 1923 as a trading outpost — importing automotive bearings and selling them to the nascent Indian automobile industry. For nearly four decades, SKF India was essentially a sales office. The products were Swedish. The technology was Swedish. The intellectual capital was Swedish.
When SKF India was incorporated in 1961 as a joint venture, and when the first factory came up in Pune in 1963, the model shifted from trading to licensed manufacturing. But the fundamental dependency remained: the high-technology bearings that commanded premium prices and served critical applications — industrial large bearings for steel mills, wind turbines, railways — were still imported from SKF's European factories.
THE CRISIS
By the 1990s, SKF India faced twin pressures. On one side: Indian OEM customers — automobile manufacturers, industrial equipment makers — were accelerating indigenisation, increasingly preferring suppliers who manufactured in India over those who imported. On the other side: the Industrial segment (large bearings for steel, cement, power, and mining) still had 60% of demand met through imports, making SKF India dependent on its Swedish parent for the most valuable part of its product portfolio.
The strategic risk was clear: a company that imports 60% of what it sells to industrial customers cannot claim to be a serious manufacturing partner for Make in India. It can be undercut by any competitor — domestic or international — that commits to local manufacturing first. The question for SKF India's leadership was not whether to localise. It was how fast and how deep.
THE LEADERSHIP DECISION
SKF India's transformation was driven by a series of deliberate decisions to move manufacturing capability from Sweden to India, product category by product category, decade by decade. The 2009 Solution Factory in Pune — India's first — was a signal that SKF India was not just manufacturing bearings but offering engineered solutions, condition monitoring, and remanufacturing services. A bearing company that sells solutions rather than components is far harder to displace than one that competes on price alone.
In 2023, Mukund Vasudevan, President of SKF India and Southeast Asia, articulated the shift precisely: 'With new bearing manufacturing channels now operational in Ahmedabad, Pune, and Nilai, we've moved from intent to impact. Localisation is no longer a plan — it's a reality.' Advanced manufacturing channels for medium-diameter deep groove ball bearings, spherical roller bearings, and UC-range ball bearing units — previously imported — were now operational in India and Southeast Asia.
The ₹800-950 crore investment announced through 2030, including a new manufacturing facility in Pune by 2028, is the largest commitment SKF has made to Indian manufacturing in its 100-year history.
THE STRATEGIC PIVOT
SKF India's pivot was from a product company to a solutions company. Bearings alone are commoditisable. Condition monitoring services, predictive maintenance, remote diagnostics, spindle remanufacturing, and engineering consultation are not. SKF's Rotating Equipment Performance (REP) service — introduced in India in 2018 — monitors industrial bearings in real time, predicts failure weeks in advance, and ships replacement bearings before downtime occurs. By 2021, 20% of industrial clients had adopted REP.
The product pivot came with the remanufacturing business started in 2010. A large industrial bearing — weighing up to 4 tonnes, costing lakhs of rupees — can be remanufactured after wear, restoring it to near-original specification at a fraction of replacement cost. This service model transformed SKF India from a one-time bearing supplier into a recurring revenue, long-duration partner for steel mills, cement plants, and wind farms.
The railway pivot gave SKF India its most visible success story. India's metro rail expansion — from Delhi to Bengaluru, Mumbai to Kolkata — required hundreds of thousands of axlebox bearings per year. SKF won 100% of business on two metro projects with entirely locally manufactured bearings, demonstrating that Indian-made SKF bearings had achieved parity with European-manufactured ones.
MARKET REACTION
Indian OEMs — Maruti, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp — rewarded SKF India's localisation commitment with increasing share of business. The logic was straightforward: an OEM that depends on imported bearings for its assembly line has a supply chain vulnerability. A supplier that manufactures in India, with Indian supply chains, provides far greater delivery reliability and price predictability.
The wind energy sector provided a different validation. In 2008, SKF signed a €303 million long-term supply agreement with Suzlon — one of India's largest wind turbine makers. Wind turbine bearings are among the most technically demanding in industrial manufacturing: they must withstand enormous loads, variable speeds, and decades of operation in exposed environments. SKF India's ability to supply certified bearings for Suzlon's Indian and export-market turbines established it as a serious technical partner, not just a branded component supplier.
THE FACTORY FLOOR
SKF India today operates six manufacturing facilities — Pune (industrial and automotive bearings), Bengaluru (automotive bearings), Ahmedabad (industrial bearings and new advanced channel), Haridwar (automotive bearings), and two Bengaluru and Mysuru plants for Lincoln-brand lubricants. The Pune factory — the oldest and largest — manufactures 50% of SKF India's total bearing production.
The new advanced manufacturing channels commissioned in 2024 — medium spherical roller bearings at Ahmedabad, UC-range ball bearing units at Pune — use the same global processes, technology platforms, and quality benchmarks as SKF's European plants. During a 2024 visit to India, SKF Group's President and CEO, Rickard Gustafson, toured the new facilities and confirmed India's role as a strategic growth engine for the global group.
THE RESULTS
THE PLAYBOOK MOVE
PLAYBOOK MOVE 5 — FIX THE FACTORY FLOOR: SKF India spent a century upgrading from importer to trader to licensed manufacturer to solutions provider — each transition driven by a deliberate decision to invest in Indian manufacturing capability until the Indian factory became indistinguishable from the parent's best global plant.
THE LESSON
The Local-Global Equation
SKF India's transformation proves that a multinational subsidiary can transcend its importer origins — but only by genuinely committing to manufacturing, not just assembling. The test is whether the Indian factory uses the same processes, quality standards, and technology platforms as the parent's European facilities. SKF India passed that test when its Pune-made bearings began appearing in metro systems alongside bearings made in Gothenburg. Global standards, local manufacturing: that is the only formula that works.
How much of what your factory sells is actually manufactured in your factory? And what would it take to own the entire product — from raw material to customer delivery?