French supplier Valeo to invest Rs 2,147 crore in India over the next three years

French automotive parts supplier Valeo on Wednesday announced an investment of €200 million (Rs 2,147 crore) in India over the next three years as it looks to more than treble its sales to €700 million by 2028.

India currently contributes only 1% to Valeo’s global sales. To grow its India business, the French auto component maker is looking to tap into the growing demand for feature-rich cars and electric vehicles.

“We see a lot of additional content and technology in cars sold in India. That’s the reason we are absolutely determined to grow in India,” Christophe Périllat, CEO of Valeo, told reporters during a press briefing.

“India is the fastest-growing automotive market in the world. It’s not just volumes, the kind of cars sold in India is changing very fast as you have more than 60% SUVs in new orders,” Périllat explained.

India is one of the key areas of growth for Valeo. “We plan to triple our sales from €220 million to around €700 million by 2028 and to prepare for the next step of high growth beyond 2028,” Périllat said, adding that the company is going to target 1 billion euros of sales beyond 2028.

Valeo currently supplies electric powertrains to Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M’s) BE 6 and XEV 9e electric vehicles. The auto parts supplier offers e-axles, battery cooling plates, chargers, inverters, sensors, lighting equipment and ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) among others.

In India, Valeo is going to invest mainly on electrification and ADAS divisions.

The investment comes at a time when nearly 4% of all new car sales in India are electric. “We are here to reaffirm the importance of the Indian market. The Indian market is taking off. The technology content of Indian cars is growing,” Périllat said.

“We are localising the electric motor and power electronics. We are localising the battery cooling. For ADAS, we are localising sensors, cameras, and radars, among others,” added Périllat. “We anticipate that by 2032, the share of EVs and hybrids will be 25% in India.”

Valeo entered the Indian market in 1997. It operates six production sites across Chennai, Pune, Sanand, and Gurugram and global R&D centres in Chennai and Bengaluru. Valeo employs over 7,500 people in India, with over 50% engineers contributing to global research, development, and manufacturing activities.

Valeo has commissioned a new plant and dedicated e-axle production lines at its Pune facility to support rising demand for Mahindra & Mahindra’s EVs.