Automotive Equipment. Manufacturing facility for diesel high-pressure pumps opened:

Bosch displays confidence in growth in India
Sales set to increase by 17 percent in 2006
· Bosch planning to invest 325 million euros in India between 2005 and 2008

· Diesel’s share of the Indian car market likely to grow to more than 40 percent by 2010

Bangalore – The Bosch Group is further expanding its presence in India. At its Bangalore location, the company opened its first manufacturing facility for common-rail high-pressure pumps in the country. The new manufacturing facility is part of a comprehensive program of investment: between 2005 and 2008, Bosch intends to spend some 325 million euros on capital expenditures in India. Some 100 million euros have been earmarked for the establishment and expansion of diesel production alone. The new production line is capable of producing up to 1,000 common-rail diesel pumps per day. Bosch has been manufacturing injector components for diesel systems at its Nashik location since end of 2005. In 2007, it is planned to start production of common-rail injectors in Nashik. Bosch is the largest Indo-German company, and India’s leading automotive supplier. The Bosch Group employs more than 15,000 associates in India.

“Modern diesel engines are clean and economical. They will also gain strong popularity in India,” said Bosch Board of Management member Bernd Bohr at the ceremony to mark the rollout of the new high-pressure pump manufacturing facility. On average, the diesel consumes some 30 percent less fuel than a comparable gasoline engine – and emits significantly less carbon dioxide. In addition, diesel is 30 percent less expensive than gasoline in India. For this reason, Bosch expects to see diesel’s share in the Indian car market to rise from its current 30 percent to more than 40 percent by 2010. “We are well equipped to be able to accompany this growth. We have designed our new manufacturing facilities so that we can flexibly serve the requirements of automakers, especially locally based ones,” Bohr said. In 2005, Bosch sold some 40,000 common-rail systems in India. In 2010, this figure is expected to be as high as 600,000 systems. “Nearly every automaker in India has now announced that it will be launching diesel cars with common-rail technology,” Bohr said.

The Indian growth market: good opportunities for safe, clean, and economical technologies

India’s growth curve is also reflected in business developments: in 2005, the Bosch Group generated sales of a good 570 million euros with customers in India. This year, the figure is expected to reach some 670 million euros: an increase of 17 percent. And if sales within the Bosch Group are included, sales of its Indian companies were as high as some 730 million euros in 2005. Here, too, sales are expected to rise by 17 percent this year, to reach 850 million euros. “India is one of the growth motors for our business in Asia Pacific,” Bohr said.

With some 1.3 million cars manufactured in 2005, India is already Asia’s fourth largest automobile market. Vehicle sales have been rising by an annual average of 20 percent since 2002. “Given this growth, India could be one of the world’s five most important automobile markets by the beginning of the next decade,” Bohr said. Only every two hundredth person in India is a car-owner at present. “But a quarter of Indian motorcyclists are planning to buy a car as the next stage of their motorization. This alone means an additional sales potential of more than one million cars per year,” Bohr said. At the same time, nearly 50,000 kilometers of the Indian road network are to be widened by 2012. The country is already the world’s second largest motorcycle market, and the largest market for tractors and three-wheelers. Bosch also expects to see rapid growth in the segment of low-price vehicles costing less than 7,000 euros. In India, growth in sales of these vehicles is especially strong, forecast at roughly 10 percent per year between now and 2015.

If these vehicles are also to comply with ever stricter emission standards, they will need to be equipped with electronically controlled direct-injection systems within a short development period. “For this reason, we will not only be expanding manufacturing in India, but also development and application work for common-rail systems,” Bohr said. The safety of these cars is also to be improved considerably in the next few years. With technologies such as ABS, the antilock braking system, and ESP®, the electronic stability program, the number of fatal skidding accidents can be significantly reduced. “As far as Bosch is concerned, we are not just onlookers of developments in India, but have been in the heart of those developments for many years,” Bohr said.

Bosch subsidiary Mico: India’s leading automotive supplier

Bosch has had an active presence in India for some 80 years – first via a representative office in Calcutta, and then from 1951 on via its subsidiary Mico (Motor Industries Company Limited) in Bangalore. Apart from diesel components and systems, Mico’s product range includes starters and alternators, as well as control units for gasoline systems. With a production volume of 19 million units, it is the leading Indian manufacturer of spark plugs for gasoline engines. With some 4,000 sales outlets and 770 workshops, Mico also runs the Indian automobile industry’s largest aftermarket network.

India also plays a key role in the Bosch worldwide development network. Robert Bosch India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Bosch in India, headquartered in Bangalore, is the company’s largest development center outside Germany. By the end of 2006, it will employ some 3,000 associates working on software development for intelligent vehicle systems. Worldwide, Bosch spends some nine percent of its sales revenue in its Automotive Technology business sector on research and development – far more than the average in the industry. The company is also the world leader when it comes to filing patents related to the car.


The Bosch Group is a leading global manufacturer of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology. In fiscal 2005, some 251,000 associates generated sales of 41.5 billion euros. Set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering,” the Bosch Group today comprises a manufacturing, sales, and after-sales service network of more than 280 subsidiaries and more than 12,000 Bosch service centers in over 140 countries.

The special ownership structure of the Bosch Group guarantees its financial independence and entrepreneurial freedom. It makes it possible for the company to undertake significant up-front investments in the safeguarding of its future, as well as to do justice to its social responsibility in a manner reflective of the spirit and will of its founder. 92 % of the shares of Robert Bosch GmbH are held by the charitable foundation Robert Bosch Stiftung. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG.

Additional information can be accessed at www.bosch.com.

Contact Information

Uta-Micaela Dürig

Head of Corporate Communications

Bosch Group

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