FCA to invest $150 million set up Global Digital hub in Hyderabad.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) recently announced its plan to invest $150 million to set up a new Global Digital Hub in Hyderabad.

Named as FCA ICT India, this new innovation and technology development facility is the company’s largest Digital Hub outside of North America and EMEA, FCA said in a release adding that the investment significantly expands the automobile manufacturing group’s presence in the country.“The $150 million investment to set up a Global Digital Hub in Hyderabad, Telangana cements our continued commitment to India and our customers,” said Partha Datta, President and Managing Director, FCA India. “FCA ICT India will be our technology backbone that will not only help us develop products for future mobility but will also sharpen our efforts to enhance customer-centricity."

He further said this is a significant step forward in making company's Indian operations more capable to develop digitally-driven products and technologies locally for India and also for the world.

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. According to the carmaker FCA ICT India will create nearly 1,000 new cutting-edge technology jobs by the end of 2021 and has plans to increase hiring over the next two to three years.

“We are working closely with strategic technology partners to accelerate our talent and competency ramp-up at FCA ICT India,” Karim Lalani, Director and Head of FCA ICT India. “We are also 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.”

Headquatered in Mumbai, FCA has a major presence in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu employs over 3,000 people. With the Global Digital Hub, FCA will be expanding its presence in Telangana It's engineering and product development operations are located in Pune and Chennai.

“In the digital era, data is the new currency. Our goal is to build an innovation powerhouse that harnesses the intelligence enabled by data to build exciting new products and services to deliver at the speed of our customers’ expectations,” said Mamatha Chamarthi, CIO, FCA, North America and Asia Pacific. “One of the key objectives of FCA ICT India is to digitalize every aspect of FCA’s automotive operations globally and within India, and to shift from legacy to digital through adoption of emerging technologies,” she added.

ET