By N. Balasubramanian
Jamna Auto Industries, long recognised as one of the world’s leading leaf-spring manufacturers, used its presence at Automechanika Dubai 2025 to signal a bold pivot: the company is rapidly transforming into a complete suspension solutions provider with strong ambitions across global aftermarket and OEM segments. Speaking at the show, Mr. Sunil Laroiya, President & CTO, Jamna Auto Industries, outlined the company’s expanding product portfolio, export strategy, and sharp focus on the African and Middle Eastern markets.
Jamna Auto Industries is leveraging Automechanika Dubai as a strategic platform to deepen its connections across Europe, Asia, and especially Africa. As Sunil Laroiya explained, “Our key target for this edition of the show is customers from African markets. We are seeing increasing traction from Africa, much of which is serviced through the UAE.”
The company’s product transformation has been significant. While Jamna built its reputation as a leaf-spring manufacturer, the last few years have seen the business scale up into a full-system suspension supplier. “We started as a leaf-spring company, but we have now added complete suspension systems, including trailer suspensions and lift axles,” Laroiya noted. A major step in this evolution is the company’s upcoming facility in Pithampur, Indore, which will manufacture trailer axles.
According to him, the axles bring a differentiated engineering advantage to the market. “These trailer axles are single-piece axles – nobody in India is making this type, and even in Europe they are rarely used. Engineering-wise, they are among the best in the world.”
Complementing this forward integration is a robust backward-integration move into rubber parts. “We’re becoming a one-stop solution for all suspension products. Besides our own large consumption, we are targeting both OEMs and the aftermarket for rubber parts,” Laroiya stated.
This diversification is central to Jamna’s medium-term revenue strategy. The company aims to rebalance its business mix, reducing its dependence on domestic OEMs. “Going forward, our objective is that OEM revenue should not exceed 50%. Today we are around 78%, but in the next five years we want OEM contribution to drop to 40–50%, with exports and allied aftermarket products taking a larger share,” he said.
Exports, in particular, are gaining strong momentum. Jamna’s quality credentials are well established, with approvals from global OEMs such as Daimler, Volvo, and Scania. To enhance delivery performance, the company has fully dedicated its Hosur plant for international business. Laroiya explained, “For key European customers, we maintain inventories of the parts they frequently require. Some orders can be delivered within 15 days. For new products, we have set ourselves a challenging target of 45 days; right now we’re close to 60 days, but we’re not far from achieving the 45-day benchmark.”
With India emerging as a preferred sourcing hub, Laroiya believes the shift away from China is accelerating. “Political stability and product reliability are two major reasons global players are moving from China to India. We are seeing a major shift in both US and European business,” he emphasised. Turkey, he observed, may remain a short-term competitor, but not in the long term.
Automechanika Dubai, he added, is a timely platform to consolidate Jamna’s outreach in the Middle East and Africa. “We have a strong base in Europe, but our business in Africa is still negligible. Since the UAE is a gateway for African trade, this show is ideal for us. Our next target is to capture the South African market,” Laroiya said.
Reinforcing Jamna Auto’s evolving identity, he concluded, “We are a complete suspension solution provider, not just for India but globally. We are also entering the global OEM market aggressively.”
