Bosch to invest 17 billion rupees in India over next 3 years

By Krishna V Kurup and Rachit Vats

(Reuters) - German auto parts maker Bosch Group plans to invest 17 billion rupees (189.9 million pounds) in India over the next three years to meet growing demand in the domestic automotive market, Chief Executive Officer Volkmar Denner said on Wednesday.

The company will also ramp up investments in electric vehicles, self-driving technologies, diesel engines and artificial intelligence, Denner said at a press conference in Bengaluru, India.

To keep pace with rapid changes in the automotive industry, Bosch said it plans to spend an additional 6 billion rupees to revamp one of its manufacturing facilities in Bangalore to focus more on advanced technologies such as Internet of Things.

Bosch anticipates electric vehicle technologies will be a future growth area in India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims to allow only electric cars in the country by 2030.

"We believe electrification is the future but an adequate transition period is required and 2030 is too short a timeline," Denner said.

For now, the company believes hybrid engines, which combine traditional combustion engines with electric technology, will be an interim solution on the path to an all-electric future.

Electric car sales in India, one of the world's fastest-growing auto markets, made up less than 0.1 percent of annual sales of more than 3 million passenger cars in 2017-2018.

The lack of demand is mainly because electric vehicles are expensive, have a limited range and require a vast charging network.

Bosch generated around 2 billion euros in total sales in India in 2017.

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup and Rachit Vats in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)