The drop in bottomline of the bearings company mirrors smaller peer Timken India's drop in quarterly profit.

Schaeffler India's profit was 2.17 billion rupees (about $26 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with 2.31 billion rupees a year earlier. This was its first profit decline after 13 quarters of growth.

Its automotive technologies division, which develops precision products for passenger and commercial vehicles, and accounts for a bulk of the revenue, rose 9.3%.

The company's raw material costs jumped 15.2% amid higher prices of some metals, including steel, leading to a 5.4% rise in total expenses.

Revenue grew 3.4% to 18.55 billion rupees, the slowest in 14 quarters, according to LSEG data. The company's revenue growth has been slowing over the last few quarters.

It recommended a dividend of 26 rupees per share for the year ended Dec. 31, 2023.

Shares of Schaeffler India closed 1.4% higher ahead of the results.

($1 = 82.9840 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)