Japanese Tier 1 auto supplier, Denso Corporation has announced that it will invest Rs 2.7 billion (?4 billion) in India towards the building of a new manufacturing facility for windshield wiper motors and power windows, and for engine cooling modules. The new facility, to come up in Jhajjar (Haryana), is expected to go on stream in July next year. Spread over an area of 73,000 sq.m, the plant will employ 450 people. The small motors for windshield wipers and power windows, and engine cooling modules, will be supplied to production sites of auto manufacturers in northern India, including Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.

The announcement to set up a new facility comes within a year of the company announcing a plan to set up a technical centre at Gurgaon near Delhi. The centre, involved in the development of automotive technologies for powertrains, electric and electronic systems, information and safety systems, and small motors, went on stream in March 2012. It is Denso's sixth technology development base in the world. Entering India in 1984, roughly the same time Maruti Udyog (now Maruti Suzuki) started its operations in India, Denso Corporation, under its wholly owned subsidiary Denso Haryana has come to have six subsidiaries, including four production companies, which produce automotive air conditioning systems, fuel injectors, engine ECUs, starters, alternators and other devices. The Gurgaon plant of Denso, built in 1997 with an investment of Rs 2.49 billion manufactures and markets fuel pumps, injectors, engine ECUs, and VCTs. The facility recorded sales of Rs 6.9 billion in the year 2011.

Said Michio Adachi, Denso's executive director in charge of the Powertrain Control Systems Business Group, "As India is one of our most important markets with a high growth potential, the new manufacturing facility will enhance our current production capacity and help better serve our customers in India."