Bosch to invest over Rs 1,000 cr in localisation of advanced auto tech in 5 years

New Delhi: Technology and services supplier Bosch, which has completed 100 years of its presence in the Indian market, has said it will invest more than Rs 1,000 crore in the localisation of advanced automotive technologies over the next five years.

Besides, the company also launched its mobility marketplace to provide its mobility-related assets under one platform.

Bosch opened its first sales agency in Kolkata in 1922. It currently has 18 manufacturing sites and seven development and application centres, employing close to 31,500 associates.

"Bosch India has brought together the best of German engineering and Indian entrepreneurship to develop innovative products across all segments," said Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management, on Thursday.

The company will continue to invest heavily in India to expand its portfolio close to seven per cent of total net sales.

Backed by the biggest R&D team outside Germany ? Bosch's Beyond Mobility business works to the highest international standards of manufacturing, product, and service quality to formulate indigenous, affordable, and India-specific innovations, the company said.

Over the next five years, Bosch India will invest more than Rs 1,000 crore in the localisation of advanced automotive technologies, and in this way support Atmanirbhar Bharat, the vision of making India self-reliant, it said.

"Bosch's 100-year journey in India is a testament to the passion, hard work, and dedication of our associates. I sincerely thank our associates for the part they have played in this," said Soumitra Bhattacharya, managing director of Bosch Ltd and president of the Bosch Group in India.

He added that Bosch India will remain true to its roots and evolve, innovate, and spark the next wave of big-ticket products and services. "We will continue to pursue this vision for a digital, sustainable, efficient, self-reliant, and future-ready India."

The company said it has always focused on technologies for a mobility experience that is economical and sustainable, safe and secure, convenient and exciting in the future.

This will be accomplished via new platforms to meet changing requirements of legislation and user experience, it added.

Bosch is taking further strategic steps towards a leading position in the software-dominated future of mobility by combining its? automotive know-how, wide-ranging electronics and software expertise, it said.

Being a market leader in the powertrain, Bosch said it is convinced of a technology-neutral approach with regards to powertrain, be it gasoline, diesel or electrification.

Considering the ever-changing needs of mobility, Bosch provides more than one powertrain technology to make mobility more sustainable.

"We are the global leader in electric powertrain solutions. Bosch estimates that by 2030, every third new vehicle in India will be an EV. At the same time, depending on the use case/ customer strategy, the internal combustion engine (ICE) could also be electrified with mild and strong hybrids.

"The ICE remains an important part of the powertrain mix especially in commercial vehicles and off-highway segments," it said.

As an AIoT company, Bosch India said it is leveraging AI, IoT, automation, and digitalisation to develop smart, secure, efficient, and sustainable smart products of the future.

It added that sales of connected power tools, household appliances, and heating systems alone have grown by 50 per cent within one year ? from four million units in 2020 to more than six million in 2021 globally.

With the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI), the company has established a strong unit in the field of AI that has already contributed some 300 million euros to result, it stated.

Stating that it remains committed to improving quality of life through advanced technology, it said. Bosch Power Tools aims to increase its localization share by more than 10 per cent by 2025.

It also said that BSH Home Appliances recently expanded its production capacity at its Chennai factory for manufacturing refrigerators towards an ambition to achieve up to 75 per cent of localization by 2025.

The company said it is well prepared to make a leap through a digital marketplace, which aims to be the one-stop shop for all mobility-related assets - Mobility Marketplace. As an innovation plus transactional platform, it focuses on improving utilization and efficiency elements across the ecosystem.

It is a neutral platform with digital assets focused on mobility solutions powered by Bosch expertise in the mobility domain. Not only does the marketplace provide significant value for buyers by offering curated and secured content, but it also enables the sellers to realize additional revenue channels through new business models, it said.

The platform aims to expand the portfolio of digital assets from APIs to data to end-to-end solutions, services and hardware covering a wide range of services in an automotive lifecycle such as road/ weather data, telematics, navigation, point-of-interest services parking, and EV infra, among others, according to the company.

It also said that as a part of the company's future strategy, improving lives of young people and supporting the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, Bosch wants to increase the employability of young people in India by 2030 through active partnerships with Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and government intervention.