Bosch Group, India, is targeting double-digit growth in the next fiscal, with plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore in the next four years, Soumitra Bhattacharya, president, Bosch Group, India, said.

“We will grow in double digits in FY24 and have enjoyed an all-time record growth in our turnover. We have been equal or beyond market parameters. We are growing at about 25 per cent for our listed company, and for non-listed companies, we are growing at 30 per cent,” Bhattacharya told The Telegraph during the company’s centenary celebrations in Calcutta.

EBIT growth is in double digits despite the pressure of commodity prices. Our free cash flow is 100 per cent, “ he said.

Bhattacharya offered a road map for the Rs 2,000- crore investment plan: The company will infuse funds in the personalised, automated, connected and electrified segment (PACE).

In Bosch Siemens Home Appliances, a lot of money will be put into sales and distribution and factories.

Besides, there will be investments in research applications, auto aftermarkets, plants and expanding the manufacturing of spark plugs.

In power tools, there will be an increase in localisation.

The company is also looking at mergers and acquisitions.

In India, Bosch will go hydrogen in heavy commercial vehicles and medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV). It will retrofit petrol and diesel engines (ICE or internal combustion engines) with hydrogen engines. The company has set up a facility.

“ We are present in wide-ranging industries and products because our parent Bosch operates in the mobility solutions and non-mobility solutions which are building technologies, automotive aftermarket, consumer goods, drives and controls and industrial goods. In India, Bosch represents all of this and over and above this there is Bosch Global Software,” said Bhattacharya.

In the automotive aftermarket, Bosch has 450 car service centres.

“We plan to have 1,000 service centres by midterm. We are currently the fourth largest in this segment, we want to become the third largest. Our parent company has a lot of analytics in the form of diagnostic tools and then we put a digital layer on top of it and straight away you start creating a USP.” Bosch also brought cordless power tools, the only brand to have done so.

“If you put Bluetooth in it, you bring in traceability, so when you do a huge number of service centres, you can create traceability.”

The company is also focussing on localisation. “We have large manufacturing facilities and we are increasing localisation. We are aiming to go 70 per cent localisation.”

About supply chain issues, he said: “Supply chain is a global issue, there were severe shortages of semiconductors but the worst part seems to be over, however, we are at a hand-to-mouth existence. Supply chain resilience is being tested.”