Bosch plans Rs 2,500-cr investment in India

The Bosch Group in India plans to invest Rs 2,500 crore by 2013 for capacity augmentation, business diversification and research and development in the country.

The group, a leading supplier of technology and services in areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods and building technology, continues to look at meeting the growing market demand in India with a planned investment of Rs 2,500 crore between 2011 and 2013, company officials told reporters here today.

The investment activities include capacity augmentation, business portfolio diversification and R&D. Of this investment amount, Bosch Limited, the flagship company of the Bosch Group in India, would utilise Rs 1,300 crore.

As part of its investment plan, Bosch would also be setting up a new electrical drives manufacturing facility in Chennai.

This facility is expected to start production by 2012 to cater to the growing needs of the Indian market.

Another significant activity by the Bosch Group in India, presently in its 125th anniversary year, pertains to software engineering and support for global 'power train electronics' development for gasoline and diesel engines, along with hybrid and electric vehicles.

The project looks into the global challenges of CO2 emission reduction in power train electronics and Bosch would employ over 800 engineers in Bangalore and Coimbatore.

A large proportion of the investment would also be used for new products for growing and unique Indian market needs. Having met Bharat Stage 3 norms with its inline pumps, further efforts are being made to upgrade these pumps for higher injection pressure to meet forthcoming emission norms, Bosch said.

For the low-priced vehicle segment, a common rail for enhanced fuel efficiency is also being worked upon. Innovative solutions for tractors are another area of work.

Start-stop systems and low cost ABS for 2-wheelers, which form a very significant portion of private transport in India, are some of the other near future offerings from Bosch.

Dr Bernd Bohr, Member, Board of Management-Robert Bosch GmbH and Chairman of the automotive group, said the highly encouraging performance of Bosch in India adds another highlight to the anniversary year.

"With a turnover of Rs 9,270 crore, the Bosch Group in India has seen 36% growth in 2010 over the past year. We hope to continue our growth by equipping ourselves to cater to the growing needs of the Indian market," he said.