"We would be investing Rs 1,400 crore this year and next year, primarily for new technology, called punch-grid, which we are getting from East Penn of US, where it is a proven technology," Exide's Managing Director and CEO, Gautam Chatterjee said after the company's Annual General Meeting here.
"This would help us to produce next generation high performance long-life batteries. The life of batteries would improve by about 20 per cent. These batteries would be meant primarily for the after-market. Out of the capex, we would be investing Rs 700 crore in setting up a one million units capacity at Haldia this year," he said.
Haldia's capacity, which is now 2.2 million units a year, would go up by another one million. Exide's total capacity is about 12.2 million units now.
The first phase of the project would get completed by the fourth quarter of this year, Chatterjee said.
"Batteries with the new technology will be initially rolled out from our Haldia plant and gradually other facilities will also start producing the same", he said.
The balance Rs 700 crore capex will be invested across the rest of the four automotive battery manufacturing plants in 2017-18.
Meanwhile, Exide Industries, which owns Exide Life Insurance, is not considering diluting any stake at the moment even after the government allowed upto 49 per cent stakeholding by foreign companies in the Indian insurance space, Chatterjee said in reply to a shareholder.
Kolkata-based Exide had acquired 100 per cent equity in the former ING Vysya Life Insurance in May 2014 after Netherlands-based ING Group exited India.
The company is in its fourth successive year of profits with a total premium income of Rs 2,047 crore. Its Assets Under Management stands at Rs. 9,530 crore.