Bosch to spend up to Rs 560 crore on capex this year

Bosch, a well-known industry supplier of technology and services, expects a strong demand outlook for passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the second half of the current year. The company has made provisions to incur Rs 520-560 crore of capital expenditure this year.

With production revival in auto OEMs, a better supply of semiconductors and a reversal in commodity costs, the company's auto product sales grew 31 percent year on year (YoY) in the September quarter. This growth was driven by a 40 percent growth in the powertrain solutions business, 21 percent growth in the two-wheeler segment and five percent in the aftermarket.

“We are investing in the future growth for our plant and machinery and we have invested in our smart campus. We will be investing Rs 520-560 crore this financial year. This will also include a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme investment,” said Soumitra Bhattacharya, Managing Director, Bosch and President of the Bosch Group in India. 

With an investment of Rs 800 crore, Bosch India unveiled its new, smart campus called Spark.NXT at Bengaluru’s Adugodi area in June. The new campus can accommodate 10,000 employees and features multiple smart solutions based on sustainability, security and user experience for employees, visitors and facility management.

For the PLI scheme, an investment of Rs 596 crore will be made from Bosch Automotive Electronics over the next five years to boost domestic manufacturing capabilities. 

Hydrogen Pilot programme
Responding to a changing mobility landscape, Bosch has launched the pilot Hydrogen Engine Testing infrastructure with temporary storage setup in Bengaluru. Under this project, the company will convert internal combustion engine (ICE) commercial vehicles to hydrogen enabled engines. On an average, it is investing 1.5 percent-2 percent of overall revenue currently in advanced automotive technologies like fuel cells, hydrogen cells and electric vehicles. 

“Our powertrain solutions division in India is in deep engagement with key energy sector players and OEMs for Hydrogen engine business. We have received our first hydrogen pilot project. This includes the conversion of ICE BS-IV to hydrogen ICE. We have got the pilot conversion project and it will be performed from our hydrogen lab in Adugodi campus and only after the start of production of our OEMs, we will give further details,” Bhattacharya added. 

According to Guruprasad Mudlapur, Joint Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer of Bosch India, the company has acquired a series of new projects and it will now support the OEMs to build additional vehicles before December. “From then on the series project will start and the timeline is about 1.5 years for series projects,” Mudlapur said.

Globally, the company is investing significantly to develop components for hydrogen electrolysis and hydrogen fuel cell systems. The parent company Bosch will assign the development of electrolyzer components to the Mobility Solutions business sector, investing up to 500 million euros in this venture by the end of the decade.

In addition, the company also intends to make India one of its prime export hubs and targets to take exports revenue to mid-teens in the next two-three years. In FY22, the company's exports as a percentage of sales stood at about nine percent. While the majority of Bosch India’s exports is directed towards Germany, it also supplies to the ASEAN region and aims to increase its footprint in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.