Bharat Forge recalibrating its future investments

Auto component manufacturers have a bigger problem in hand than OEMs as they have already gone ahead with the investments, says company Chairman & MD Baba Kalyani

Amid slowdown in Indian automobile market, auto component maker Bharat Forge today said it is 'recalibrating' its future investments as its existing capacities are not being fully utilised.

"We are now recalibrating our future investments, there is no sense in making investments today when you have already made investments which are not being utilised," Bharat Forge Chairman and Managing Director Baba Kalyani told reporters here.

He added that the auto component manufacturers have a bigger problem in hand than the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as they have already gone ahead with the investments.

"OEMs invest as they see demand, component manufacturers invest ahead of demand so we all have invested years ago. So we have bigger problem because we have huge capacities sitting idle with no off-take," Kalyani said.

When asked if the company has cut down on the number of employees due to slowdown, Kalyani said: "We did not have to retrench people, we have relied on natural attrition, which is a small number."

"We are a little different because we operate in a global market place so what happens in India accounts for about 30-40% of our business," Kalyani said.

He, however, added that in the medium to long term, Bharat Forge's volumes in India would not come down.

"There are lots of other opportunities here," he added.

Commenting on the slowdown in the industry, Kalyani said: "If people think we are going back to where we were three years ago in the next 6 months or one year, I don't think that's going to happen".

"The faster we realise that it's a reset of economy and not a slowdown, the better we all are going to be," he added.

Pune-based Bharat Forge is the flagship company of the Kalyani Group and the world's second-largest forgings manufacturer.