The Bosch Group will invest Rs 1,800 crore (Rs 18 billion) in India by 2008. A major part of this investment will go towards expansion of the company's automotive activities in India, with special focus on modern diesel technology.
The company earlier announced it would invest Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) between 2004 and 2007.
"India is a growing economy, and we are confident that the steep upward trend will continue in the future," said Bernd Bohr, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH.
Bosch's Indian subsidiaries recorded sales growth of 25 per cent in 2005, to nearly Rs 3,802 crore (Rs 38.02 billion).
"By 2015, we see Indian automobile production increasing at 8 per cent a year," Bohr said. The dynamic expansion in infrastructure has been accompanied by increasing motorisation, he said.
The company sees opportunities in the area of clean, eco-friendly diesel systems, as India has already been tightening its emissions legislations since 2000, following the pattern set by Europe.
Bosch is investing Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.50 billion) in large-scale series production of the high-pressure common-rail system, its most modern diesel technology.
Other parts of the total investment will be utilised for capacity ramp up, routine capital and maintenance expenditure and developing R&D infrastructure among others, across the Bosch subsidiaries in the country.
Bosch started production of injector components for the common-rail system in Nashik at the end of 2005. The manufacture of complete injectors will follow in 2007. Also the first common-rail high-pressure pumps will be produced in mid-2006 in Bangalore.
"We expect to see the market for diesel variants of cars and utility vehicles rise from 29 to 37 per cent by 2010," Bohr said. "In 2005, we delivered roughly 40,000 common-rail systems in India, and in 2010 this figure is likely to be 6,00,000."
But the company intends to further expand not only the production of common-rail systems in the country, but also its development and application.
