Bosch to develop world’s biggest R&D Centre in B'luru

Bosch, a global supplier of technology and services, on Tuesday, said its R&D Centre in Bengaluru will become the largest such facility in the world in the next few years. Currently, it is the second-largest R&D Centre for Bosch globally after its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.

Bosch started developing the R&D Centre in Bengaluru in 2014 when it started shifting its manufacturing facility from Adugodi in Bengaluru to Bidadi, about 35 kms from here. Currently, 18,000 R&D engineers are working in Bengaluru out of a total of 31,000 employees in the country, a top company official said.

Bosch’s R&D centre in Germany employs 30,500 engineers at present. “In the next few years, the R&D Centre in Bengaluru become the biggest R&D location for Bosch in the world,” Volkmar Denner, Chairman of the Board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH said in a media interaction. He, however, did not specify how many R&D engineers will be working in India. Denner was in Bengaluru to chair the company’s board meeting.

Bosch is investing around Rs 1,700 crore over the next three years in India to expand its operations which includes the development of its R&D Centre in Bengaluru.
“Adugodi is growing very fast and if our plans come true, it will be the biggest R&D Centre in the world. Today, it is the second-largest centre. This means we believe in India and want to keep invested here,” Denner said.

Bosch generates about 83% of its total sales in India from its mobility (automotive components) business and it will continue to be in that ratio, he said. A major part of the company’s investments will be in the area of mobility, he said.

Bosch, which started operations in India in 1951 with a factory in Bengaluru, today operates 12 companies with 18 manufacturing sites and 7 engineering and application centres in India. Its Indian subsidiary Bosch Limited ended its 2018-19 fiscal year with total revenue of Rs 12,258 crore, showing a growth of 4.9% year-on-year.

Denner said Bosch will continue to focus on internal combustion (IC) engines despite electric vehicle technology is gaining traction globally. “Globally by 2030, 75% of all vehicles will have IC engines and only 25% will have electric or fuel cell technology. Bosch is improving IC engines and making them clean and environment-friendly,” Denner added.