Data collected by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has revealed that in 2016-17, top 25 automakers in the country have invested Rs 6,344 crores on Research and Development (R&D). Of these 25 investors, Tata Motors ranked on top, followed by Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Honda Cars and Ashok Leyland.
In 2016-17, Tata Motors investments in R&D amounted to Rs 2,100.1 crores. This was even though the company reported a loss of Rs 2,619.2 crores during that period. A majority of this investment Tata has done has been used to develop their three upcoming cars – Harrier H5X, H7X and the 45X, all of these were showcased at 2018 Auto Expo. The first of them, the H5X will be launched by March 2019, H7X by end 2019 and 45X by 2020.
Speaking about other Indian automakers, Mahindra invested Rs 2,075.8 crores in R&D, a 40.02% of the company’s gross profit of Rs 5,187.5 crores. Investments made by Maruti Suzuki India Limited into Research and Development amounted to Rs 640.7 crores, just 6.44% of the company’s gross profit in 2016-17 which stood at Rs 9,941.3 crores. Maruti Suzuki has set up an R&D facility in Rohtak, Haryana but still relies on parent company Suzuki Motors for major R&D work.
A total of Rs 549.7 crores was invested by Honda Cars India for R&D purposes even as the company suffered losses to the extent of Rs 98.9 crores while Ashok Leyland invested Rs 389.5 crores into R&D which was 23.39% of Rs 1,665.5 crores, the company’s grow profit for the year 2016-17.
Among the other automobile companies investing in R&D through the past financial year were VE Commercial Vehicles, the joint venture between Volvo and Eicher Motors. They invested Rs 268.9 crores. Force Motors investments in R&D amounted to Rs 113.4 crores.
In the two wheeler segment, Hero MotoCorp invested Rs 710 crores, Bajaj Auto invested Rs 367.6 crores while TVS Motors invested Rs 244.7 crores along with Royal Enfield which invested Rs 128 crores in R&D. Total investments in R&D for 2016-17 from 15 two wheeler companies amounted to a total of Rs 1,479.1 crores.
Engine makers – Cummins India, Greaves Cotton and Simpson & Co invested a total of Rs 86.4 crores in R&D in 2016-17 while total investment from automakers, two wheeler makers and engine makers amounted to Rs 7,909.6 crores during the period under review.
