Piaggio to invest Rs. 50 cr in India for R&D.

Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd. (PVPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Italy's Piaggio Group, is planning to invest Rs. 50 crore in this calendar year for R&D in India.

“We are trying to innovate across the board, and this investment would be made especially for two- and three-wheelers. This would be for both passenger and cargo vehicles,” Piaggio India Chief Executive Officer Stefano Pelle told Business Line in an interaction.

This investment does not include R&D for two-wheelers.

The company, which already had one-third of the total market share in the country, expects a 'healthy' increase in sales and marketshare following the investments in R&D. He, however, declined to provide the number of vehicles it expects to sell in India in 2015, putting it only as a 'few thousand' more.

PVPL, which has nearly 2,500 people employed in India, has so far invested more than Rs. 1,000 crore in India over the last 15 years. The investments were made for plants and machineries.


HBL