Wired for the Future

As EV disruption accelerates, Uno Minda's next big challenge is maintaining its competitiveness in a global auto industry undergoing rapid technological change

- • Rakshit Kumar and Yuthika Bhargava

On the flat, dusty edge of Haryana's Industrial Model Township in Kharkhoda, Uno Minda's new factory floor hums as molten aluminium spins into shape, cooling to form passenger-vehicle wheels.

The ₹542-crore alloy wheel plant, spread across 25 acre and capable of producing 1,20,000 wheels a month, will, when fully complete, be the company's largest plant.

Outside, the steel frames are a far cry from the lanes of Chawri Bazar in Delhi where the company began its journey as a small auto parts trading firm over six decades ago. Since then, the business has shed its metal-and-mechanics image. Today, it runs on software, sensors and electrification and has grown to be one of India's largest auto-component makers with 76 manufacturing facilities in six countries and a market cap of about ₹70,000 crore.

Its numbers are positive. The company reported a consolidated revenue of ₹16,775 crore and profit after tax (PAT) of ₹943 crore in 2024-25 versus a revenue of ₹6,374 crore and PAT of ₹119 crore in 2020-21, with strong performance across all product segments, led by lighting, switches, casting, seatings and other divisions (sensors, motors and controllers).

The target is to grow 1.5 times the pace of the overall industry. In the last 4-5 years, they have expanded at twice the industry rate.

Race Against Time

But the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and new propulsion systems is rewiring the industry at a pace unmatched in the past decade. For suppliers, this involves navigating turns that demand betting on early-stage tech, high capital costs, retraining their workforce and building resilience against supply chains rattled by geopolitical power plays.