Hyderabad– ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a global leader in driveline and chassis technology, on Thursday announced that it will set up its first India Technology Centre (ITC) in Hyderabad.
The technology centre, coming up with an investment of 20-30 million euros, will be dedicated to embedded and electronic systems software development and mechanical engineering.
It will support ZF’s global development teams while enabling the company to accelerate local product development, the company officials said.
The German major on Thursday signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the Telangana government for setting up ITC, which is expected to be operational by January 1, next year.
It will have a workforce of 2,500 including 1,000 engineers currently working for TCS, Tech Mahindra and other partners.
Minister for Information Technology K. Tarakarama Rao described the development as a big breakthrough for Hyderabad. He noted that the city had so far been attracting pure tech players and hoped that with automotive engineering services company like ZF setting up its centre, this will create an eco-system for this space.
He hoped that ZF will come up with a large campus in the city with inbuilt race track for driverless cars.
Jayesh Ranjan, secretary, information technology, said Hyderabad had become go-to destination for any marquee name looking to have presence here.
Mamatha Chamarthi, senior vice president and executive lead for ITC told reporters that the centre will start operations from 1,000 square feet leased premises in Gachibowli.
The company also has plans to develop its own campus in Hyderabad in future.
ZF currently has 12,000 employees at 26 plants in India catering automotive and non-automotive sectors.
She said efficiency, safety and automated driving were the three key areas of focus of ZF’s corporate strategy 2025.
ZF company acquired TRW Automotive last year, which was then integrated within the organization as the Active & Passive Safety Technology Division.
The combined company reported sales of 29.2 billion euros in 2015 and now has a global workforce of around 135,000 with approximately 230 locations in 40 countries.
It has 100 technology centres globally.
