January 18, 2006	Wednesday	Zilhaj 17, 1426

NEW DELHI, Jan 17: Global automobile and component makers have pledged to invest $1.2 billion in India and transacted deals worth $150 million at a trade show here, sponsors said on Tuesday.

Germany’s Robert Bosch group set the transactions rolling by unveiling plans to invest eight billion rupees ($186m) in India over the next two years, the event sponsors said. This was in addition to a 10-billion-rupee investment the company has already announced, they said at the end of the week-long event.

Indian market leader Maruti Udyog Ltd, in which Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp. holds a 54.5 per cent stake, offered to invest 27 billion rupees ($632m), the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) said. Maruti, which until recently boasted a monopoly in the Indian market, is currently fighting incoming competition to retain it 56-percent share of domestic car sales.

“The Auto Expo has been a great success and most of the participating companies want to come back again,” CII spokesman Gurpal Singh said, adding that total investments pledged had topped $1.2 billion.

Japanese auto giant Honda Motor announced plans to plough in 3.2 billion rupees to boost annual production capacity by 450,000 motorcycles to 3.6 million units. French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen placed orders worth nine million euros with leading Indian component manufacturers and said it planned to set up an office in the country, the company said.—AFP