German Companies in India: an overview
German companies are among the longest-established foreign investors in India. The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1956, says it supports more than 2,500 member companies from six offices in India and one in Germany. Several German groups keep listed Indian subsidiaries. Siemens Limited, Bosch Limited, Schaeffler India, BASF India, ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India and Blue Dart Express all trade on the NSE and BSE, and Siemens Energy India has traded separately since the energy business left Siemens Limited. Others, including Mercedes-Benz India, BMW India and SAP Labs India, are unlisted subsidiaries of their German parents.
Automotive suppliers and carmakers have the deepest German footprint. Bosch began manufacturing in India in 1951 and now operates through twelve companies with 18 manufacturing sites. In 2025-26 its Indian businesses, excluding BSH Home Appliances, reported revenue of about ₹40,253 crore and employed 37,131 people. ZF says it has 17 manufacturing plants, 12 engineering centres and about 20,000 employees in India, with its Indian headquarters in Pune. Pune is also the base of Mercedes-Benz India and Škoda Auto Volkswagen India, which build cars at Chakan, while Daimler India Commercial Vehicles makes BharatBenz trucks and buses at Oragadam near Chennai.
German parents also run large engineering, software and service operations in India. SAP Labs India, set up in 1998, is based in Bengaluru, and Bosch says its largest development centre outside Germany is in India, where Bosch Global Software Technologies is headquartered in Bengaluru. Volkswagen Group Digital Solutions works from Hinjewadi in Pune, and ZEISS runs its Indian business from Bengaluru with three production facilities. In logistics, Blue Dart, which began operating in 1983, signed a sales alliance with DHL in 2002, and DHL acquired 81.03% of the company in 2005. Deutsche Bank runs its Indian operations from Mumbai.