Globally your
revenues stood at Euros 7.9 billion in 2016. How much does India contribute to
this?
PG: India is a
strong asset in our group. We have worldwide 86 production plants, of which 12
are in India. That is a strong sign of our commitment in this country. Our
revenues in India is around Rs 1500 crore (15 billion). We have a solid plan to
improve this revenue at a significant pace. In 2016, the revenues grew 10pc.
That is a good improvement, but obviously we plan to keep on growing. The
proportion to our global sales is small but you need to consider not just the
proportion in terms of revenues but the content in terms of vehicles. The
average cost of cars in India as compared to the average cost of cars in the rest
of the world is significantly different. For example in Europe and North
America, we supply full LED lamps, GDI injectors, high powered electric
engines...so these we do not produce in India. For our presence in India for
the last ten years, since 2007, it’s a good start here. My predecessor had said
that we want to triple our revenues from where we were in 2015.
SM: The first
manufacturing plant was commissioned here in 2008. We put up the plants here
step by step. From this perspective, it’s not that all our plants were there
from 2007-8.
What is the scope of
exports out of India?
SM: For different
business we have different levels of exports. For example in electronics, in
engine control units we produce out of India and export it to different parts
of the world. In shock absorbers, we supply directly into Europe and US.
Exports from business to business vary. A significant part of business is
exports. Obviously the plants here are made first for Indian market and support
some export where it makes sense.
PG: We have
established our presence in India to support the Indian market. But when we
have an opportunity, we export. But the main target is Indian market. It is
also part of our strategy of having this local presence to be able to provide
support to our customers where they have their production plants.
What are currently
the major global trends when it comes to technology related to vehicles whether
it is pertaining to power trains, connectivity, autonomous driving , etc?
PG: There are three mega trends in the automotive
market. One is the progressive electrification of the powertrain. The second is the connectivity of cars. The
third is the trend in autonomous driving. First of all, it is important to
realise that sometime when we talk of the three trends, we tend to look at the
extreme band of the chain. When we talk of autonomous driving we talk about
level 5, or a car fully autonomous without a driver. When we talk of
connectivity we talk about cars being connected with each other. And when we
talk of electrification of powertrain we think about full electric vehicles. We
are at the first couple of stage when it comes to evolution of these trends.
Connectivity, for example, has two type of drivers. One is the user experience. The need to
provide services to a customer inside the car is important. The way you do this connectivity is an area
where there are a lot of different choices.
The solution for the Indian market could be slightly different from the
US market, for example. You can provide connectivity to your phone, to car play
etc. But as proceed to level three and four of connectivity, we begin to have a
significant level of autonomy in the car and more your connectivity becomes
important. So the two mega trends
converge, I do not think India is ready for autonomous driving. But as the
levels of connectivity increase where cars can communicate, you need a lot of
information like receiving information from satellite on traffic information,
information from traffic signals, etc Thus the two mega trends will merge based
on the maturity of the market.
You have the vision of Tesla on one end which is completely
at the extreme spectrum, then there are a lot of intermediary visions that are
trying to bridge the gap in such trends. These are moments of high investments
for everyone.