Will roll out actuation, thermal, and wiper systems for the automotive market
The Rs.35-crore greenfield venture of Bosch Electrical Drives India Private Ltd. at Oragadam near here has gone on stream.
The state-of-the-art facility, which has come up on a 10-acre land, will roll out actuation, thermal, and wiper systems for the domestic automotive market.
Hitherto, the company was operating from a rented facility at Guduvanchery, near here.
If the greenfield venture at Oragadam reiterates Bosch commitment to India, it also indicates its positive reading of the Indian market.
Addressing a press conference at the new facility on Wednesday, Subramanya Ullal, Managing Director, said Bosch Electrical Drives reported net sales of Rs.157 crore last year. He hoped that sales would cross Rs.200 crore this year.
Fielding a range of questions, he said the new facility had capacity to churn out 22 lakh window-lift motors, 700,000 wiper systems, and 500,000 thermal systems. He was confident that the plant would scale up to full capacity by 2015.
Asserting that the USP (unique selling proposition) of Bosch was to “bring global technology to Indian market,” he said the company would increase the local content going forward. At present, the indigenisation level stood at around 30 per cent, he added. Reiterating that the thrust would be on bringing in best-in-class processes and technologies, he, nonetheless, said Bosch would stay competitive price-wise.
The plant had a headcount of 260, comprising 130 workers, and an equal number of officers. Over a long-term, depending upon the market dynamics, this number would go up to 500, he said. Nearly 90 per cent of the 130 blue collar jobs were done by women, he added. Bosch, sources said, borrowed a clue or two from the experience of the mobile phone maker Nokia, and opted to run the shop-floor with women workforce.
The electrical drive market in India is estimated at Rs.800 crore. Though the automobile market (especially cars) was down last year, Manfred Baden, Executive Vice-President (Sales), Bosch Electrical Drives, and Chairman of Bosch Electrical Drives India Private Ltd., expected the growth to return sooner. He said Bosch was betting on emerging markets such as Russia, India and others to grow its electrical drive business.