Fiat Chrysler to invest Rs 1100 crore for Global Digital Hub in Hyderabad

Investment is $150 million (about Rs 1,100 cr) and will create employment to 1,000 by end of 2021

Hyderabad: Continuing its good run in attracting top companies to set up their global technology centres here in Hyderabad, Telangana has succeeded in getting Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) set up its new Global Digital Hub in Hyderabad. The FCA will be investing $150 million ( about Rs 1,100 crore) and the facility will create employment opportunities for 1,000 people.

The new FCA ICT India, FCA’s new innovation and technology development facility, is the company’s largest digital hub outside of North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Announcing this on Wednesday via a virtual platform, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said FCA deciding to set up its global ICT hub in Hyderabad will bolster the innovation ecosystem in the city. He said the State Government will continue to focus on creating an enabling environment for businesses and industries here.

Telangana has recently announced an Electric Vehicles Policy and the State has succeeded in attracting some big ticket investments in the segment. He asked the Fiat Chrysler to consider adding manufacturing facilities too in Hyderabad to take advantage of the growing automobile manufacturing ecosystem in the State. He also asked the FCA to get the global good industry practice it follows to Hyderabad, which has emerged as a resilient city and which has been ranked consistently higher in terms of liveability index.

FCA ICT India will create nearly 1,000 new technology jobs by the end of 2021 and has plans to increase hiring over the next two to three years. The newly recruited employees will work on products and concepts that will define the future of mobility at FCA.

“The $150 million investment to set up a Global Digital Hub in Hyderabad, Telangana cements our continued commitment to India and our customers. This is a significant step forward in realizing our vision to make our Indian operations more capable to develop digitally-driven products and technologies locally for India and also for the world,” said Dr. Partha Datta, President and Managing Director, FCA India.

The Global Digital Hub will serve as a ‘transformation and innovation engine’ for FCA and drive global IT strategy, and deliver excellence through a robust platform, technology and service centers of excellence. The Global Digital Hub will focus on building strategic competencies in niche technology areas such as connected vehicle programs, artificial intelligence, data accelerators, and cloud technologies, among others.

Mamatha Chamarthi, Chief Innovation Officer, FCA- North America and Asia Pacific, said FCA chose India to set up its ICT Hub because of the growing automobile market in India. It is now the fourth largest automobile market and is poised to be the third largest one soon.

Within India, it chose Hyderabad mainly due to the proactive support of the Telangana Government to the industries, presence of good infra, availability of skilled manpower, presence of innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems, presence of big tech giants through their global technology centres, presence of innovation and other factors. FCA decided to set up a new ICT centre last year and the plans materialised in less than a year and Hyderabad was the automatic choice for the company, said Mamatha, who was born in Hyderabad.

“Our goal is to build an innovation powerhouse to build exciting new products and services to deliver at the speed of our customers’ expectations,” she said. adding that one of the objectives of FCA ICT India is to digitalise automotive operations globally and within India, and to shift from legacy to digital through adoption of emerging technologies. “We are fostering a global culture of innovation and entrepreneurship to promote agility at scale, and drive customer-centricity.”

She said it will also tap engineering colleges for talent. Presence of about 400 colleges in the city and surroundings is a big plus for the company, she said. “Hyderabad has impressive public infrastructure. It is a wonderful city to live and has been ranked consistently high. The IT industry here is growing twice the national average. I am amazed how rapidly the infra is maturing,” she said.

“We are working with strategic technology partners to accelerate our talent and competency ramp-up at FCA ICT India. We are aggressively hiring, and the response has been overwhelming. We foresee our Global Digital Hub driving innovation in multiple areas, including customer safety, connected mobility and digital showroom experience,” said Karim Lalani, Director and Head of FCA ICT India.

FCA has presence in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, with headquarters in Mumbai and employs over 3,000 people. FCA India manufactures Jeep Compass in Ranjangaon and exports the SUV to 13 international right-hand drive markets, including Japan and Australia.

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