NRB Bearings India Ltd. (5251R9N7) said it is planning and budgeting capital expenditures sufficient to back an aggressive strategy for 20% compound sales growth over the next several years.

Expecting to run production at or near capacity through 2010 and 2011, NRB plans to follow and fuel growth by continuing capital investments totaling Rs 1 billion ($21 million) through 2013. Investments were stalled recently due to the global economic slowdown, but NRB is now restarting those programs.

Sales at NRB are currently on a run rate of approximately Rs 330 billion ($70 million) for fiscal 2010.

Founded in 1965, NRB manufactures needle roller, thrust and cylindrical roller bearings. The company has six plants in India and one in Thailand.

Currently, NRB's bearing production is approximately 80% for automotive and light truck OEMs; only 20% targets industrial, textile, rail and replacement markets. 85% of its output is sold domestically; 15% is export. Going forward, by 2013, NRB wants exports to grow to at least 20% of sales.

Last year, after enduring a long strike, NRB signed a new three-year agreement with its workers, providing for unspecified higher wages if they achieve, "mutually agreed productivity norms."

Strikes are a common bargaining tool in India. NRB workers staged a similar walkout in 2006 when the previous contract expired.

In 2007, NRB was named to the Forbes magazine list, "Asia's 200 Best Under a Billion," after evaluating more than 22,500 publicly traded companies across 14 Asian and Pacific rim countries.

NRB's customer base is widely diversified across India's automotive, truck, two-wheeler, industrial and agricultural base; no one customer accounts for more than a single-digit percent of sales.

Looking into the future, NRB expects India to continue adopting more modern agricultural methods and move to smaller, more fuel-efficient tractors will help drive growth in that sector. An increasing presence in Europe's truck and tractor OEM sector has been working out well, and future growth is expected by moving more aggressively into new markets in the U.S. and Europe where NRB is not yet known.