Delphi to invest Rs 250 cr in new plant near Chennai

Delphi , a leading mobile electronics, transportation components, and systems technology manufacturer, is planning to set up electronics components manufacturing facility at Oragadam, near Chennai with an investment of Rs 250 cr.

The company is also planning to add 100 engineers at research and development (R&D) centre in Bangalore and planning to set up its second research and development facility in the country.
 
The new facility, initially for which the company had acquired around 10 acre of land at ragadam, will be an assembling facility and it will be converted to manufacturing in the coming years, said Jeffrey J Owens, president – Electronics & Safety and president – Asia Pacfic. However he did not commit any time frame.
 
New facility at Chennai would be company's fifth manufacturing in the country with 2 in Delhi region, 1 in Uttar Pradesh and 1 in Bangalore. With the new facility the company has all the five portfolios manufactured in India including power train, thermal, steering, wiring harness and electronics.
 
Ashok B Ramaswamy, president and managing director, Delphi India said that new plant in Chennai extends the electronics and safety manufacturing footprint to India and increases the Delphi local product portfolio to meet the market needs.
 
He added, from this facility Delphi can manufacture products in the areas of controls and security, safety and entertainment and communications. In phase I, the plant will produce immobizers, body computers, instrument clusters and driver information systems followed by safety and entertainment products.
 
Owens added, currently Delphi has one R&D facility in Bangalore with 700 engineers and would be adding 100 by end of next year. The company is also planning to add one more similar facility in the country and it can also be possibly in Tamil Nadu.
 
The Indian auto sector has experienced significant growth in the last few years and Delphi expects continued growth. The Indian small car segment volume is expected to triple in next five years, which offers huge potential for Delphi, he added.
 
Currently the automobile industry growth is slowing down but it will not withstand for long time. Long term prospects are really good for both the company and for the industry. Delphi would continue focus on the domestic market.