NB Footwear is a part of Hyderabad's most famous group the Rs 250-cr Nava Bharat conglomerate. The company commenced business in 1987 with an installed capacity for 3 lac pairs of full shoes at their advantageously located plant at Cheduvalai (North Arcot district), Tamilnadu. In the initial years, it ran up an accumulated loss of Rs 2 cr. It then undertook jobwork for Bata India but had to discontinue it when the government stipulated that Bata should sub-contract only to small-scale units. Although it had a huge capacity, NB Footwear could not receive orders from the market.

Nava Bharat Enterprises, a recognised Star Trading House, took up a stake in this company. Nava Bharat Enterprises does not have a plant. But it maintains a leather division and all the work is carried out at NB Footwear on a job-order basis. It then exports to Berger Schuh, Germany, a trading agency which supplies designs to NB Footwear. The shoes are sold to leading names in Germany such as Remo, Tiechmann, Karstadt, etc.

After successfully overcoming its initial hiccups and teething problems, the company doubled its capacity by 1990 and bagged a large export order of Rs 7 cr. Apart from Berger, the company exports to several other leading German buyers. Having created and deployed its image, it now intends to market ladies hand-sewn and classic model shoes to Australia, South Africa and south-east Asia. In 1995-96, the company came out with a rights issue, at a premiun, aggregating Rs 600 lac. Further, during the year, the company broadened its footprint operations into into a technical and marketing arrangement with Berger Schuhe, Germany.

The company broadened its footprint operations into into a joint venture agreement with Amerind Footwear Inc., New York for sale of shoes in USA in 1997-98. During 2001-02 the company was declared a sick company by BIFR and subsequently appointed CLRI as operating agency,Bank of India,to conduct the Techno Economic Viability Study. OTS with Exim bank was completed.