1. At a Glance – The Polished Swedish Machine That India Isn’t Applauding Right Now
SKF India is that student in class who scores 21–23% ROE every year, never fails an exam, pays dividends like clockwork… and still doesn’t get picked first for the cricket team.
Market cap sits at ₹8,643 Cr, CMP at ₹1,752, down ~16% in 6 months, even though the business is virtually debt-free, ROCE is 28.8%, and the company printed ₹360 Cr PAT in the last twelve months.
Q3 FY26 numbers?
Revenue ₹577 Cr, up 3.2% QoQ, but PAT fell 14.5% YoY — cue panic, sell button, and Twitter experts screaming “cycle peak!”.
But here’s the thing: this is SKF, not a meme stock.
This is a bearings + industrial dominance + auto electrification play, controlled by a 100+ year old Swedish parent that treats governance like religion.
So why is the stock sulking while peers trade at nosebleed PEs?
Let’s open the bearing. Literally.
2. Introduction – When a Boring Business Quietly Compounds for Decades
SKF India is not exciting.
It doesn’t announce “AI-powered blockchain EV drone bearings”.
It just… keeps making bearings. Millions of them. Profitably.
Founded under the SKF global umbrella, the Indian arm has quietly built dominance across:
- Railways
- Heavy industries
- Automotive OEMs
- Industrial aftermarket
The parent, AB SKF, holds ~52.6%, and runs the show with Nordic discipline — which means:
- Conservative accounting
- Stable margins
- High related-party transactions (yes, we’ll talk)
- No drama fundraising
But the market today wants hyper-growth. SKF delivers high-quality compounding instead.
So the real question isn’t “Is SKF a good company?”
That
answer is boringly obvious.
The real question is:
Is this a temporary earnings digestion… or the start of a long stagnation phase?
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do? (In Simple Words)
Imagine the world without bearings.
Trains stop.
Cars seize.
Windmills cry.
SKF sells motion.
Industrial Segment (~50%)
This is SKF’s fortress.
- Bearings
- Seals
- Lubrication systems
- Machine health monitoring
- Reliability engineering
Railways? Check.
Steel plants? Check.
Cement? Power? Heavy engineering? Double check.
They have 140+ distributors and serve 40+ industries.
Once SKF enters a plant, it rarely leaves.
Automotive Segment (~40%)
This is where the future anxiety lives.
- ICE components (declining slowly)
- EV bearings
- E-powertrain
- Wheel-end & driveline solutions
SKF is already supplying EV OEMs, which matters because bearings don’t disappear in EVs — they evolve.
Exports (~10%)
Europe, Asia, Brazil, USA.
FY24 saw new product launches for European & Asian OEMs, boosting export traction.
So no, SKF isn’t dying because ICE is fading.
It’s re-tooling, not retreating.
4. Financials Overview – The Quarter That Upset Everyone
Quarterly Comparison Table (₹ Cr)
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Q3 FY26) | YoY Qtr (Q3 FY25) | Prev Qtr (Q2 FY26) | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 576.6 | 559.0 | 496.0 | 3.2% | 16.3% |
| EBITDA | 82.0 | 110.0 | 58.0 | -25.5% | 41.4% |
| PAT | 62.0 | 72.6 | 106.0 | -14.5% | -41.5% |
| EPS (₹) | 12.55 | 14.70 | 21.39 | -14.6% | -41.3% |
