Government urged to lay out long-term auto regulations roadmap

The government should avoid changing its mind on regulations for the automotive industry and instead lay out a long-term roadmap, said Soumitra Bhattacharya, managing director of Bosch India. He said this would give greater confidence to businesses in India and around the world. Bhattacharya said that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and tier-one suppliers like Bosch India could invest in training, skills development and capital expenditure once the government released a long-term policy. The comments came after the government repeatedly delayed the introduction of emission regulations for the tractor industry. The Bharat Stage (BS) IV equivalent norm, known as TREM IV, was due to come into effect in April 2021 but was postponed three times before finally being implemented in January 2023. Bhattacharya said that the transition from BS IV to VI, which was completed in a record three years, was a good example of what could be achieved. He said that the focus should be on sticking to timetables for TREM IV and V, which are due to be implemented in 2024-25, so that the industry can move forward. Bosch India, which provides end-to-end engineering and technology solutions to automakers, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of changes in safety and emissions regulations. These changes have helped the company increase the content per vehicle and boost earnings. The mobility solutions business of Bosch, which includes powertrain solutions, automotive aftermarket and two-wheeler businesses, grew 3.7% year-on-year in the March quarter due to the transition to the second stage of BS VI emission norms, which came into effect in April. This was largely driven by the powertrain solutions business, which expanded 27% year-on-year. Bhattacharya said at an earnings call earlier this month that if you look at the total mix, and mainly coming from the powertrain, yes, our content per vehicle has significantly moved up. He said that the first set of content that moved up was from BS IV to BS VI stage 1, then from BS VI stage 1 to BS VI stage 2, and later content per vehicle will also have a change when we have the TREM IV to TREM V. Bhattacharya, who is retiring from the Bosch Group after 28 years next month, said that the Indian subsidiary is well-positioned to meet the transition to cleaner technologies, such as pure electric, hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. He said that Bosch India has a pretty good position on internal combustion engines (ICE) and electric vehicles (EVs) through its parent. For heavy and medium commercial vehicles, the clean tech solution will be hydrogen, where we have pilots running. This will later be followed by hydrogen fuel cells. Hence Bosch, he said, is well-positioned. When asked whether he sees a major revival in capital expenditure (capex) by the private sector in the coming quarters, Bhattacharya said while the private sector will invest based on business requirements, he expects capex to increase from the second half of this financial year as increased demand kicks in. Also Read DLF plans to launch projects worth Rs 200 bn in current fiscal Welspun One secures over Rs 5 bn in 2nd warehouse fund's initial close