Bosch plans investment of Rs 2,500 crore till 2013

The Bosch Group in India, a leading supplier of technology and services in the areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods and building technology; today announced its future plans for the Indian market. Presently in its 125th anniversary year, Bosch continues to look at meeting growing market demands in India with a planned investment of Rs. 2,500 crore between 2011 and 2013. The investment activities include capacity augmentation, business portfolio diversification and Research and Development. Of this investment amount, Bosch Limited, the flagship company of the Bosch Group in India will utilise Rs. 1,300 crore. As part of its investment plan, Bosch will also be setting up a new electrical drives manufacturing facility in Chennai. This facility is expected to start production by 2012 to cater to growing needs of the Indian market. Another significant activity by the Bosch Group in India 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 will employ over 800 engineers in Bangalore and Coimbatore. A large proportion of investment will also be used for new products for growing and unique Indian market needs. Having met Bharat Stage 3 norms with the Inline pump, further efforts are being made to upgrade these pumps for higher injection pressure to meet forthcoming emission norms. For the Low Priced Vehicle segment, 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 significant near future offerings from Bosch. Commenting on the occasion, 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 36pc 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. The Indian economy’s resilience to the recent economic crisis and its potential for growth are indeed undisputed. It is however the urgency and effort in the direction of cleaner, efficient technology in the backdrop of this economic growth provides us with great opportunities.”