Bosch to invest Rs 250 cr on aftermarket business in 3 yrs

The firm that is aiming for Rs 2,000 crore revenue from the aftermarket business this fiscal said it will also enhance its training centres for mechanics to 15 in the next three years from 11 currently.

"We will invest Rs 200 crore to Rs 250 crore in the next three years to expand our aftermarket business. This will include ramping up of car service centres from 750 to 800 outlets from the current 500 across the country," Bosch Ltd Vice-President (Automotive aftermarket) S Muralidharan told PTI.

This will be a part of the Rs 2,500 crore investment till 2013, announced by the company earlier this year for capacity augmentation, business diversification and research and development in India.

Asked about revenues from the aftermarket division, he said: "It is growing at a strong double digits rate and we expect this to continue. We are hoping to cross Rs 3,000 crore turnover in the next three years from about Rs 2,000 crore that we are expecting in this fiscal."

Muralidharan, however, said the firm is losing about 30 per cent of its aftermarket businesses to fake and spurious parts.

"The positive thing is that the impact of spurious parts is declining because of the raids that we conduct along with local authorities and education that we impart to our mechanics."

The company is currently is conducting about two raids every day in different parts of the country, he added.

Commenting on spreading its training centre network for automotive mechanics, Muralidharan said in the next three years it will be increased to 15 from 11 at present.
The company today opened a training for North India here.

He said also said the company expects to train about 25,000 people this year and it will be doubled in the next three years.