Premier India Bearings Limited, established in 1975, has been the authorised distributor of INA/FAG Industrial Bearings and related Schaeffler products for more than 15 years. The company claims to command bulk of the market share for distribution of bearings in India. Other than bearings, the company has a wholesome array of associated products to offer which include bearing sleeves, bearing housing, mounting and dismounting tools, maintenance products, condition monitoring equipments, grease and oil seals. In this interview, Surendra Choraria, CMD, Premier India Bearings Ltd, discloses the secret for his company’s success and emerging trends in Indian bearing market.

 

Congratulations Choraria for your company bagging the award of No. 1 Distributor for Schaeffler India this year too. What is the secret to this success?

 

Thank you. Ever since we had taken up the distributorship of Schaeffler products, this is the 15th consecutive year that we have received this award. The entire credit to this goes to our dedicated team and also our valued customers who trust us to deliver.  

 

What is your standing in terms of distributorship globally?

 

Premier India Bearings Ltd is considered to be among the top 10 distributors of Schaeffler globally and we are very proud of our relationship with the Schaeffer group.  

 

The bearing bank concept of yours was well appreciated and many are emulating it. How was this idea born?

 

We are always closely interacting with our customers and also visit their shop floors to assess the requirements. The customer invests a lot in procurement process and for carrying the inventory.  Also, a lot many of them goes waste due improper storage, rust etc. We thought if we can take this burden off them and ensure availability of required bearings at their plants, it will help the customers a lot to keep their operational costs down.

 

Your company is only distributing bearings or are there any other products in portfolio?

 

No, apart from bearings, we also provide all the support products for proper mounting, dismounting and maintenance of the bearings. We provide products like induction heaters, bearing pullers, oil seals, grease etc and also the services of our trained engineers to help the customers. 

 

What are the other regions in India where you have a presence?

 

We are a pan-India company and have presence in all the regions. In fact, we have 23 branches as of now, all equipped with adequate inventory and trained personnel to take care of the customer requirements.

 

Has implementation of GST helped trading company like Premier India Bearings Ltd?

 

Initially, there was lot of apprehensions and difficulties, but the idea of combining the different taxes into one was great and it has now become a lot easier for us to do business.

 

Why the range of bearings being produced in India is too small compared to global manufacturing?

 

As the demand grows, the production range is also growing. In fact our principals, Schaeffler Group has built a state of the art production facility at Savli in Gujarat where they produce next generation deep groove ball bearings and large size roller bearings which are also being exported to other countries. Schaeffler India has also launched recently SNV Housings with an aim to provide similar German quality products manufactured locally. These Plummer block housings are quick to mount and easy to lubricate.