Balu Forge Industries is a precision engineering house that makes the complex metal skeletons inside vehicles, aircraft, artillery and heavy machinery - crankshafts, wheel sets, turbine blades and now ammunition shells - for the world’s equipment manufacturers. It was founded in 1989 by the Chandock family and transformed after 2009 when the second generation steered it from a general machining shop into a certified supplier to global OEMs, a pivot sealed by acquiring decommissioned production lines from Mercedes-Benz, Thyssenkrupp and Ursus and transplanting them to India. The recurring approach is to buy proven Western manufacturing assets at a discount, relocate and integrate them into its Karnataka campus, and then use that capacity to win multi-year sole-supply contracts across deliberately unrelated industries - automotive, agriculture, defence, railways and energy - so that no single sector can break the business.
Business segments
A single precision-engineering engine serving five end-markets - automotive, defence and aerospace, railways, oil and gas, and new energy - all running on the same integrated forging and machining infrastructure, with defence and railways now driving the order book.
1. Precision forging and machining: the factory that feeds every other segment
Four plants on two continents forge and machine components from 1 kg to 1,000 kg for 25 global OEMs across 80 countries, with the company increasingly making its own forgings rather than buying them in.
- Integrated from raw steel to finished part - the company runs its own forging hammers and presses, heat-treatment lines, and advanced CNC machining under one roof, so it controls quality and cost from billet to dispatch rather than paying middlemen.
- Bought, not just built - three of its most advanced manufacturing assets were acquired from the factories of Mercedes-Benz Truck AG (Germany), Thyssenkrupp (France) and Ursus (Poland), giving it instant access to proven European technology at a fraction of the cost of building new.
- Machines that rivals rarely own - the Mercedes-Benz acquisition alone brought more than 10 CBN grinders from the German machine-maker Junker, a concentration the company says no other Indian manufacturer possesses.
- Capacity that is still scaling up - total forging capacity stands at over 100,000 tonnes per year and machining at over 45,000 tonnes per year, with plans to lift forging to 150,000 tonnes as outsourced semi-forged components are steadily replaced by in-house production.
- Ex-works exports pass risk to the buyer - over 70% of revenue comes from exports, and most export transactions are executed on an ex-works basis, meaning the customer arranges pickup from the factory gate and bears all freight and logistics costs.
2. Defence and ammunition: the new main engine
A fully automated, indigenously built shell-production line has pulled the company into the NATO supply chain under a five-year binding agreement, shifting the order-book centre of gravity toward artillery and armoured-vehicle components.
- NATO contract with indexed pricing - a five-year MoU with a NATO-affiliated entity covers 155 mm and 152 mm artillery shells at a price of USD 315 per unit, indexed to the London Metal Exchange, with serial supply starting April 2026.
- Line designed entirely in-house - the empty-shell production line is near 100% automated with FANUC robotics, runs unmanned on a 55-second cycle time, and was built by coordinating over 18 Indian machinery manufacturers, making it a fully indigenous Make-in-India project.
- Already an incumbent defence supplier - the company has been the exclusive provider to defence forces in two major European countries for more than five years and is an approved vendor for over 185 components to India’s ordnance factories.
- Order book tells the story - defence, aerospace and railways together account for roughly 50% of the current order book, up from a 5% revenue contribution in FY24 to 13% in FY26.
3. Railways: wheels, axles and wheel sets under one roof
One of the few companies globally that can produce a complete railway wheel set - wheel, axle and assembly - entirely in-house, with capacity of around 6,000 wheel sets per year.
- Full wheel-set integration - the company forges and machines wheels up to 1,350 mm in diameter and axles up to 2.5 metres in length, then assembles them into finished wheel sets for locomotives, passenger coaches and freight wagons.
- Supplying Indian Railways and export customers - it has begun delivering wheels, axles and wheel sets to Indian Railways and secured a long-term contract with a Middle Eastern nation during FY24.
- Scale that matters for bulk buyers - annual wheel production capacity is about 48,000 units, which lets the company meet the large-volume requirements of national railway operators rather than just spot orders.
4. Oil and gas components: steady flow-control demand
A range of forged and machined pressure-rated fittings and valves that serves the oilfield equipment supply chain, contributing 16% of revenue in FY26.
- Flow-control and pressure parts - the portfolio covers gate valves, choke valves, mud gate valves, hammer unions, flanges, manifold units and forged hydraulic fittings used in the reliable transfer of fluids and gases under pressure.
- Stainless steel capability - the company also produces stainless steel flanges, valve components and stub ends, which are required where corrosion resistance matters.
5. New energy and e-mobility: a subsidiary placing multiple bets
Housed under Quantum Energetics (formerly Naya Energy Works), this subsidiary is developing electric motors, battery systems, charging infrastructure and hydrogen technology, and has recently added a plan to manufacture military-grade explosives.
- Electric motors to enter serial production - a dedicated unit in Belgaum will manufacture BLDC and PMSM motors for two- and three-wheelers, with orders secured from two industry majors in the Far East and Western Europe.
- Six verticals, one subsidiary - the original scope spans lithium-ion and metal-air battery development, wall-mounted fast chargers up to 350 kW, a proprietary lead-recycling process called NayaRefine, hydrogen electrolysers, and a modular plug-and-play battery system for two-wheelers.
Group structure and partners
A family-led public company with three wholly-owned subsidiaries and a 40% stake in a defence-focused joint venture with Swan Energy.
- Three operating subsidiaries - Naya Energy Works Private Limited (India, new energy and advanced energetics), Balu Advanced Technologies & Systems (India, defence manufacturing), and Safa Otomotiv (UAE, crankshaft machining and assembly for MENA agriculture and oil-and-gas customers).
- Second-generation leadership - Chairman and MD Jaspalsingh Chandock oversees the group; his sons Trimaan (sales) and Jaikaran (R&D and new ventures) run the day-to-day engines that have driven the company’s pivot to OEMs and defence.