Mumbai, Dec. 4 -- NRB Bearings Ltd, India's largest maker of needle roller bearings, signalled one of the most defining shifts in its nearly six-decade history with the announcement of a strategic joint venture with Italy-based Unitec Group on 1 December.

The partnership marks the company's formal entry into industrial cylindrical roller bearings-an expansion long envisioned by chairperson and managing director Harshbeena Zaveri, but delayed due to factors rooted in her family's business legacy.

For NRB, this is not merely a joint venture, it is a reclamation of ambition.

Zaveri joined NRB in 1986 after graduating from Wellesley College, choosing to begin on the shop floor at the company's Thane plant rather than in an office. Those ea...