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Bosch India, the subsidiary of the German automotive components manufacturer, has announced an additional investment of Rs 2,200 crore that will be spent on increasing capacity, diversification and development of new technology over the next two years.
The company, which has been at the forefront of the development of many of the new, low-cost technologies that power cars such as the Tata Nano and the Aria, is expecting to pump a substantial portion of the investment amount into further expanding its local product development drive.
For instance, Bosch is currently building a new electrical drives plant in Chennai which will begin operations this year.
Expansion plans are underway at the Bosch Nashik, Jaipur and Ahmedabad facilities as well. At Nashik, increased demand has resulted in production volumes of the Classical Nozzle Holder going up to 26,500 units a day from 17,000 units earlier. DSLA Nozzle production volumes have similarly risen to 30,500 units a day from 18,000 units earlier. To cope with the increased demand, the company has expanded its production area by an additional 33,000 sqm. At its Jaipur unit too, production is being ramped up. Bosch is also constructing a new plant in Ahmedabad, which is expected to be functional by the first quarter of 2012. This facility will produce hydraulic valves, power units and control blocks as well as cylinders.
Technology front
Speaking at a media briefing here on Wednesday, Dr Bernd Bohr, Chairman of the Automotive Group and Member, Board of Management Robert Bosch GmbH, said that on the technology front, Bosch India's developers are set to lead the group's activities in the area of software engineering support for electronic control units (ECU). Their development work would focus on ECU for vehicles with conventional drivetrain technologies as well as hybrid and electric vehicles. More than 800 engineers in Bangalore and Coimbatore have been recruited primarily for this task.
In the past year, Bosch in India has also been successful in working on fuel economy technologies that are relevant for the country and other emerging markets. Technologies such as the Value-Motronic engine management platform, which was developed for emerging markets in cooperation with Indian engineers.
In the automotive sector in particular, Bosch expects the number of cars per 1,000 inhabitants in India to rise to 35 by 2025, up from 12 at present. Given the sensitivity of the Indian market to incremental costs, Bosch is also working on locally produced lower cost variants of its safety technologies. For example, ABS (Antilock Braking System) currently features in about 13 per cent of locally sold vehicles in India. With the capability to support OEMs' needs for ABS, Bosch in India produces 3 lakh ABS units per annum at its facility in Chakan, Pune. These are used for cars, SUVs and UVs. In addition to this, Bosch also offers an affordable ABS for two-wheelers in India.
In 2010, the Bosch group's sales in India stood at Rs 9,270 crore. According to company officials, preliminary estimates put the group's sales at about Rs 11,000 crore in 2011, resulting in a year-on-year growth of about 20 per cent. In terms of head count, Bosch in India added 4,000 more associates in 2011, taking its present associate strength to 25,000. It is expected that the company will have 32,000 associates by the end of 2013.
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