Robert Bosch India Ltd, which has been allotted 21.88 acres on lease in the first dedicated Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for IT/ITES industries in Coimbatore, will invest about Rs 250 crore in its Coimbatore facility in the first phase.
The company has signed a deal with Coimbatore Hi-tech Infrastructure Private Ltd, promoted by KG Information Systems Ltd, which is forming the SEZ at Saravanampatty on the Coimbatore-Mysore road. Already Robert Bosch had established in 2006 a development centre at KG Information facility.
Mr Friedhelm Pickhard, Managing Director, Robert Bosch, Bangalore, told Business Line that since the establishment of the centre at Coimbatore, the number of associates (employees) had grown to 550 now, and they are involved in dive rse areas such as software and hardware engineering, mechanical design and business services.
The Coimbatore Bosch facility is a BPO and an engineering centre.
Mr Pickhard said the company has planned to begin construction on the facility in the last quarter of 2007 and would inaugurate the first phase in early 2009. The company has strong focus on research.
Nature of work
The Bosch associates would work on advance technologies designing new Electronic Control Unit for diesel and gasoline engines and other automotive applications such as portable navigation systems, semi-autonomous parking systems, adaptive cruise control and Autosar, the new upcoming software standard for automotive applications, and for this, Bosch is in touch with the universities in Coimbatore. Mr Pickhard said the company would be investing about €41 million (about Rs 250 crore) in its Coimbatore facility in the first phase.
The company would be developing its facility in the Saravanampatty SEZ in two or three phases.
By 2010, he expects to have around 2,500 associates at Coimbatore centre.
Mr Ashok Bakthavathsalam, Managing Director, KG Information, said the decision of Robert Bosch would not only create job opportunities in Coimbatore but the manufacturing sector also would benefit since Robert Bosch looks for partners for bringing complimentary strength to what it does.
He said the establishment of KG Information’s one-stop solution for infrastructure support was one of the major reasons for Robert Bosch to select Coimbatore as the second city (after Bangalore) for expansion.
He added that after Robert Bosch, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Perot Systems were expected to have their facilities in the SEZ.
The establishment of the SEZ would also benefit the adjoining villages with the creation of non-IT jobs.
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