ETAS Group sets up Indian subsidiary

ETAS Group, a ¤133-million provider of end-to-end solutions in electronic control units to the automotive industry, aims to tap the growing automotive electronics business in India.

The company, which announced the opening of its Indian subsidiary "" ETAS Automotive India "" here on Friday, is currently in talks with most of the passenger car manufacturers, tier-I suppliers, foreign OEMs and suppliers, two and three-wheeler makers for supply of its entire range of hardware and software products and electronic control units (ECUs).

ETAS Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH of Germany.

According to Chief Executive Officer M Klauda, ECU market is likely to grow to ¤52 million by 2011 in India and the company is aiming to capture at least 20 per cent of this market. During the first year of its operations, it is aiming for a business of euro 2 million.

"We are presently catering to our Indian customers through MICO and, from now on we will service them through our own office in Bangalore," he said. Its customers in India include Ashok Leyland, Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors. Presently, M&M's sports utility vehicle, Scorpio, runs on ETAS' ECU.

ETAS India will offer sales, marketing and technical support activities to both Indian and multinational component and auto manufacturers in India. ETAS provides tools and software components for the three basic aspects of ECUs like control functions, diagnostic functions and platform software components.

"Customers using ETAS solutions will benefit from shorter development timelines, increased software quality and refined vehicle diagnostics. With the development trend towards the coverage of entire life cycles, these improvements will lead to more advanced processes, technologies and problem solving approaches," Klauda said.

ETAS will launch in India its DRIVE recorder with GPS and GSM technology and other products in a phased manner. ETAS India Managing Director Wolfgang Sienel said the company has set up a development centre in Bangalore with 10 employees including three application engineers and will double its staff next year. The centre will develop customised applications and build additional products for the customers, he said.