Bharat Forge Targets 50% Growth In Aerospace Business, Explores Plan To Move Manufacturing To India

Bharat Forge Ltd. expects to achieve a revenue growth of up to 50% in its aerospace business driven by an enhanced focus on capacity expansion and a robust supply chain.

“We expect to see our quarterly numbers from aerospace cross Rs 100 crore this year and grow substantially from there. We expect to see 30%, 40%, and 50% growth year-on-year in this business from FY26,” Bharat Forge’s Vice Chairman and Joint Managing Director Amit Kalyani told NDTV Profit.

The company, in its third quarter earnings investment presentation, announced plans to set up a dedicated machining line for landing gear components and a ring mill for manufacturing high-precision forgings. These initiatives aim to meet the growing demand for jet engine components from the global aerospace industry. Bharat Forge expects the new capacities to come online in the financial year ending March 2027.

“In the landing gear line, we are increasing our capacity and doing more value addition for products that we are already supplying. So, it's moving from one stage to a significantly higher value,” Kalyani said.

Bharat Forge witnessed a subdued financial performance in the third quarter, with consolidated revenue dropping over 10% year-on-year to Rs 3,476 crore and Ebitda falling 5% YoY to Rs 638. The subdued quarterly performance was triggered by the economic condition in Europe, which impacted the company’s operations and exports into the region.

Talking about plans to tackle this challenge, Kalyani said Bharat Forge will take an important call in the next six months after speaking to the stakeholders in the region.

Highlighting a shift in the overall manufacturing ecosystem and manufacturing requirements in Europe, the top executive added, "We are not happy with the performance of our subsidiaries in Europe. And we are going to take six months to decide after talking to all our customers."

Kalyani also spoke about the challenges of operating in Europe while explaining the factors behind Bharat Forge’s subdued Q3 performance. 

"We have a lot of European manufacturing that cannot operate profitably below 80-85% of capacity utilisation because the break-even levels are high; their structural costs are high. There's clearly going to be an opportunity to move the business from other geographies into India," he said.

According to Kalyani, the current scenario is also the best time to move manufacturing to India.

"For a long time. It was China, then it became Vietnam. I think it's now India's turn. India and Indian manufacturing—the advantages are becoming evident. There are opportunities to substantially accelerate the growth of our business out of India," he said.

Amit Kalyani added that a new policy to encourage manufacturing and its time-bound implementation by the government would play a key role in attracting global companies. 

Shares of Bharat Forge Ltd. slipped over 5% on Thursday to touch an intraday low of Rs 1,044.70 apiece on the NSE. The stock was seen trading 2.55% lower at Rs 1,076.5 in comparison to the benchmark Nifty 50's rise of 0.06% to 23,056.6 points.