Bengaluru, February 3 Bosch, a leading supplier of technology and services, is celebrating a century of its presence in India, said it would invest an additional R₹2,000 crore over the next five years The investments would be primarily in advanced automotive technologies and digital mobility space.

The company also launched its mobility marketplace, providing all its mobility related assets under a single platform. It is also working towards improving the employability of youths through partnerships with Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Government interventions.

Speaking at a virtual event to mark the centenary, Dr. Stefan Hartung, Chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH said, “Bosch India has brought together the best of German engineering and Indian entrepreneurship to develop innovative products across all segments. I wholeheartedly congratulate the management and associates of Bosch India on reaching this milestone without compromising on performance and consumer trust.”

Soumitra Bhattacharya, the managing director of Bosch Limited and President of the Bosch Group in India 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. 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.”

Bosch said that it had opened its first sales agency in Kolkata in 1922. From these beginnings, it now encompasses 18 manufacturing sites and 7 development and application centers, employing close to 31,500 associates. Over the next five years, Bosch India will invest over ₹1,000 crore in the localisation of advanced automotive technologies, and support Atmanirbhar Bharat, the vision of making India self-reliant.

Mobility technologies

The German headquartered group said that 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, it said, will be accomplished via new platforms to meet changing requirements of legislations and user experience. Bosch said, it 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. In mobility hardware and software development, BGSW is the largest R&D center outside Germany with 20,000+ engineers.

EV is the future

In the Powertrain business, it said, “We are 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.”

The company estimates that by 2030, every third new vehicle in India will be an EV. At the same time, dependent on 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.

Investment in road safety domain

Supporting the govt vision to reduce road accidents by over 50 percent by 2025, Bosch said, it had developed expertise in assisted and automated mobility ranges across passenger and commercial vehicle driver assistance with India-specific object identification technology, motorcycle safety and rider assistance, and braking and occupant safety (4W and 2W). In safety doman, Bosch India has invested ₹380 crore over the last ten years, and an additional ₹238 crore is planned over the next 5 years.

To leverage technology

Bosch India said that it is leveraging AI, IoT, automation, and digitalisation to develop smart, secure, efficient, and sustainable smart products of the future. Sales of connected power tools, household appliances, and heating systems alone have grown by 50 percent within one year – from four million units in 2020 to over 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 the result.

India investment plan

Emphasising that it would invest heavily in India to expand its portfolio close to 7 percent of total net sales, the company pointed out that this was backed by the biggest R&D team outside Germany. Bosch’s Beyond Mobility business, the company said, works to the highest international standards of manufacturing, product, and service quality to formulate indigenous, affordable, and India-specific innovations.

Localisation

Stating that having aided the construction of “modern India” over the past 26 years, Bosch Power Tools aims to increase its localisation share by more than 10 percent by 2025. To achieve up to 75 per cent of localisation by 2025, BSH Home Appliances had recently expanded its Chennai unit’s production capacity for manufacturing refrigerators towards this target. 

Highlighting the other parts of Bosch’s presence in India, the group said, Bosch Rexroth continues to offer smart, innovative, and energy-efficient products and solutions with a seamless digital experience across touch points. It is at the forefront of transforming the factory of the future through IoT products, smart automation capability and connected manufacturing setup.

The Bosch Automotive Aftermarket,  one of the largest multi-brand car service centre, would expand to 1,000 locations by 2025, and also be the largest chain for unit repair of diesel and electrical service centres which would grow to 2,000 outlets by 2025.

Bosch Building Technologies is another part of the group. having presence in India, will make buildings intelligent, secure, energy efficient and future-ready would also consolidate its localisation program to achieve 40 per cent of local content by 2030.

Mobility Cloud Platform

The company said that it was offering Mobility Cloud Platform (MCP) which would simplify cloud transformation. Bosch said it has created the MCP – a launchpad and ecosystem for developing, implementing and scaling IoT enabled digital products for advanced connected mobility solutions. The MCP helps customers to focus on their core product features, optimizing their lifetime product costs by upto 25 per cent and improving the time to market by up to three times, it claimed. The company said its cloud platform offered complete flexibility and no lock-in, to help new-age mobility startups, SMEs and corporates alike to scale their business.

Revenue

Bosch in India generated consolidated revenue of about ₹17,354 crore (€2.05 billion) in 2020 of which ₹10,942 crore (1.29 billion euros) from third party. In India, Bosch Limited, the flagship company of the Bosch Group, earned revenue of over ₹8,386 crore (€0.99 billion) in 2020, it added.