Bosch Group in India will be investing about INR 2,000 crore to localise advanced automotive technologies and digitalisation space, Dr Stefan Hartung, Chairman of the Board of Management, Robert Bosch GmbH, has said.
Delivering his presentation during an event to celebrate 100 years of Bosch in India, he said it is not about developing the Indian market but making India a global leader.
Bosch India has brought together the best of German engineering and Indian entrepreneurship to develop innovative products across all segments, Hartung said.
Paying full-throat encomiums, Hartung said, today Bosch India is a world-class organisation working with the highest international standards in manufacturing, cutting edge research and development, product and service quality and human resource development.
As a global company, Bosch has made significant progress in its transformation from a manufacturer of physical products to a leading provider of software and services. According to him, this process is closely connected to cultural change. It is exemplified by the excellent work of Bosch’s global software technology.
Reiterating that this is the first business unit of the global company headquartered in India, he said it is currently one of the largest service units, serving external customers in over 12 countries. Ultimately, the global company is not a follower by a shaper of global change like India.
The industry is currently experiencing paradigm shifts in economic, technical and social aspects. He said the company brought electronics to modern vehicles, and now it is turning it into an internet nod on wheels.
Software is a key differentiator in products and services as it is disruption all segments. India’s vast software and digital competence undeniably make it a global powerhouse. In FY21 alone, Bosch India exported software services worth $133.7 billion, and its engineering R&D service sector is expected to be worth $63 billion by 2025.
The startup ecosystem in India is the third-largest in the world, and the country is home to around 26,000 technology startups and more than 70 unicorns, which speaks of the country's digital talent and entrepreneurial zeal. Accordingly, the company has not only transformed its former engineering entity into Bosch Global Software Technologies but also made India the headquarters of all its software units worldwide, employing over 25,000 associates. The solutions developed help the global company move into the digital age and improve efficiency by introducing digital elements into the products and processes. “Their hard work, innovation and commitment enabled us to come through a difficult time, in very good shape. Called Spark. Next, it will be our guiding light for the development of solutions not only for India but also for the changing world as well', Hartung added.
Soumitra Bhattacharya, Managing Director, Bosch Limited and President, Bosch Group in India, said the group has invested over INR 9,000 crore during the last decade and will continue to pursue its vision for a digital, sustainable, efficient, self-reliant, and future-ready India. The group currently has 18 manufacturing sites and seven development and application centres, employing 31,500 associates.
On Bosch Automotive Aftermarket, he said it will be expanding its network to 1,000 locations by 2025 from the current 400. In addition, the unit offering diesel and electrical services will grow to 2,000 outlets by 2025. He further said that the very purpose of Spark.Next is to enable the company to tackle the next century as it transforms and transitions.
The state-of-the-art smart campus coming up at its Bengaluru headquarters at an investment of INR 800 crore will be opened in June this year, he added.
Dr Markus Heyn, Member of the Board of Management, Robert Bosch GmbH, announced the launch of Mobility Cloud Platform, which aims to simplify cloud transformation. 'Bosch India is not just another cloud infrastructure provider but a launch pad to rapidly develop and introduce solutions,' he said.
The Mobility Cloud Platform helps customers focus on their core product features, optimising their lifetime product costs by up to 25% and improving the time to market by up to three times. With complete flexibility and no lock-in, Bosch has developed the Mobility Cloud Platform to help new-age mobility startups, SMEs and corporates alike to scale their business, he said.
Heyn said that Bosch India is well prepared to leap through a digital marketplace that aims to be the one-stop-shop for all mobility-related assets and launched Mobility Marketplace. Focussing on improving utilisation 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. The platform aims to expand the portfolio of digital assets from application program interface (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 like parking, EV infrastructure, Heyn added.