The Schaeffler Group is planning investment of 60 million euros (around Rs 460 crore) in its Indian operations in 2019. The amount, which is almost thrice the company’s annual investment in India, is earmarked for expanding manufacturing capacity and in introducing new technologies. This information was provided to Autocar Professional by at the ongoing SIAT 2019 Expo in Pune by Dharmesh Arora, CEO, Schaeffler India.

It is also understood that there will be an additional announcement of another investment to expand and strengthen Schaeffler R&D base in India.  It is learnt that the company is conducting trials of its E-Clutch in India.  The E-Clutch is an electric automated clutch that enables optimisations in fuel consumption by means of so-called ‘sailing’.

Depending on the extension stage, the system assumes clutch operation only in certain driving situations or carries out all clutch operations fully-automatically. This means that fuel-saving driving strategies – from ‘sailing’ through to electrically-assisted driving – can also be used in vehicles with manual transmissions. It essentially paves the way for manual transmissions to hybridisation and thus to new markets and segments. Until now, this has only been possible in conjunction with automatic transmission

Schaeffler India is also targeting a significant share of the two-wheeler clutch market in India. While the company is already a big supplier to domestic two-wheeler OEMs, given that over 20 million two-wheelers are sold in the domestic market, the company is bullish on demand coming its way.

In October 2018, Schaeffler had announced the successful completion of the merger of INA Bearings India and LuK India with Schaeffler India. The combined entity makes Schaeffler India a leading automotive and industrial supplier, offering a full range of solutions in engine, transmission and chassis components for automotive applications and a wide range of ball and roller bearings, housings and services across all industrial applications,  with over Rs 4,100 crore in revenues and around 3,000 employees.

Also read: Schaeffler displays key emission reduction and fuel efficiency technologies at SIAT Expo