At a time when China is slowing and Europe and the United States face economic uncertainty, the chairman of German industrial major and world's largest auto components manufacturer Bosch expressed optimism that India could be the only region with a significant growth path in the next two years.
Economic regulations such as GST and interventions to incentivize industrial production are key developments seen as growth enablers, which also fuel the bullishness, according to Stefan Hartung, chairman of Bosch.
India is not yet one of Bosch's top markets. Germany and China are both home markets. However, the German conglomerate retains significant holdings in the country, where its subsidiary Bosch India reported sales of 1.67 billion (14,929 crore) in 2022-23. That's because, as he put it, "it has contributions far beyond those sales because it's involved in many projects around the world." That gives it a unique role."
Bosch's largest stake in India is in its Bengaluru-based global engineering centre, Bosch Global Software Technologies (BGSW), which has grown from 650 employees in 2000 to 36,000 by 2022. What was previously referred to as a "Bangalore company" as Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions is now a multinational corporation with subsidiaries in Mexico and Vietnam, among other places. "We're also considering other locations," Hartung said.