The auto-component manufacturer, Lumax DK Jain Group, on Thursday said it would invest ₹150 crore in the next one year on expansion, joint ventures and development of new products.

“For this year, we are investing close to ₹150 crore as a Group on multiple things – R&D expansion, new joint ventures, brownfield as well as greenfield projects in the existing facilities and the new ones coming up in Gujarat,” Deepak Jain, Promoter Director, Lumax Auto Technologies, told BusinessLine on the sidelines of an event here.

He said the company was also working on new technologies in gearshifters, LED lamps for passenger vehicles and also telematics, which it is testing with some of the vehicle makers in the country.

The company recently entered into a joint venture with Israel’s Ituran Location and Control Ltd for the sale of telematics products and services to the Indian automotive industry.

“On August 14, we signed the JV for telematics for connected cars. As a Group, we want to play in electrical and electronics because that’s the future. There is huge market for connected cars and leading car companies are working on them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the company has also entered into a JV with the Barcelona-based Francisco Albero SAU (FAE) to manufacture and supply oxygen sensors to two-wheeler manufacturers here – it will invest ₹14 crore for an installed capacity of 20-lakh oxygen sensors.

The JV will be called Lumax FAE Technologies Pvt Ltd; Lumax Auto Technologies will own 51 per cent share and FAE the rest.

Oxygen sensors monitor the gases emitted by the vehicle engine, thereby maintaining the appropriate air-fuel mixture to facilitate the efficient functioning of the engine in accordance with the emission regulatory norms.

Owing to Bharat Stage-VI emission regulations, which will come into force by 2020 and become mandatory, there will be a significant potential for the sensors. It would import the sensors initially and once the market grows, the company would start manufacturing themin India.

“We are aiming for 10 per cent market share in the first phase. In the first phase, we will import the sensors and once the market grows, localisation in the next 4 to 5 years would happen,” Jain added.

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