Exide forays into manufacturing of e-rickshaws

Lead-acid battery major Exide Industries Ltd on Wednesday said it has forayed into the manufacturing of e-rickshaws that will help the company with an incremental revenue of Rs 120 crore in the first year of operation.

Its e-rickshaw brand 'Exide Neo' was launched on Wednesday that would be built at Dankuni, West Bengal at a leased facility, the company said.

The company has planned to roll out its e-rickshaws initially in select markets such as Bihar, UP, West Bengal and the North East and will introduce the vehicle across the country in a phased manner, Exide Industries MD and CEO Gautam Chatterjee said.

"The e-rickshaw sector has seen phenomenal growth in the country over the past few years. We have been an integral part of it since its inception through our offerings of lead- acid batteries. We see a tremendous opportunity in the sector," he said.

He said that foraying into e-rickshaw segment will not give "any significant revenue" but it will provide a forward integration for the battery maker.

"The e-rickshaw batteries are being produced at Haldia. We will also introduce lithium-ion battery powered e- rickhsaw but that would be done in a leasing model over the next 6 months," Chatterjee said.

The total revenue of Exide was Rs 10,588 crore as on March 2019.

The Kolkata-headquartered company is one of the first branded-battery makers that brought out products exclusively for this sector which has been ruled by the unorganised players.

"The e-rickshaw market, despite its exponential growth, had seen an absence of a large organised sector player," Exide Industries Deputy MD Subir Chakraborty said.

The company's announcement comes after its stock slid down by 30 per cent since January 2019.

On Wednesday, the company's scrip fell 2.93 per cent to end the day at Rs 181.95 on NSE.