CHENNAI: NSK Ltd. of Japan has teamed up with Mumbai-based ABC Bearings to float a joint venture to make bearings for the automotive industry.

NSK will hold 75 per cent share in the Rs. 50 crore equity capital of the new company. ABC will hold the balance.

The joint venture is christened NSABC Bearings Ltd. It has just initiated steps to set up a greenfield production facility on a 20-acre plot at the SIPCOT Industrial Park in Sriperumbudur, near here. The plant is expected to go on stream in January next year.

According to a release, the initial investment in the unit will be around Rs. 50 crore. A further investment of Rs. 80 crore will happen by 2010.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming facility was held on Tuesday. Seiichi Asaka, President and CEO of NSK, was present at the ceremony.

NSK has been in India since 1997 through branch offices in Chennai, Gurgaon and Mumbai. An official spokesman of the company said NSK products were currently imported into the country. The Japanese company went in for a tie-up with ABC since the Mumbai firm had expertise in procurement, he added. Also, ABC could have value to the joint venture in terms of getting the right personnel, he said. Moreover, both have a good relationship for quite some time now with NSK providing technical support in the production of bearings.

He said the joint venture would make only those bearings not imported by NSK into India and those not produced by ABC Bearings. The facility would eventually employ around 200 people.

NSK has already a running equal joint venture with Rane Group at Guduvanchery, near here. It also has a technical assistance arrangement with a unit of Sundram Fasteners.

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