Power min urges battery producers to set up plants in India

Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh today urged battery manufacturers to set up units in India and offered all possible support from the government to create an enabling ecosystem for investments.

Singh held a meeting with battery manufacturers here to discuss the creation of an ecosystem for incentivising battery manufacturing in India, an official statement said.

In the meeting, Singh exhorted the industry to set up battery manufacturing units in India as the future demand was going to be very high with the government promoting e-vehicles in a big way.

Tenders for procuring e- vehicles have already been issued and we have started procuring the vehicles. This is going to increase, he said.

Asserting that the future bids will be for solar/wind hybrid coupled with storage, the minister said that the government will soon come out with a policy in this regard, and the focus will be on Make in India' in this field.

On the issue of adequate supply of raw materials for manufacturing of batteries, the minister said that the government has already initiated interaction with resource rich countries such as Bolivia.

The industry representatives raised the issue of high GST rates on batteries. They demanded that to promote Make in India, preference should be given to Indian made batteries in Government procurement.

They also stressed upon the need for creating Indian standards for batteries and setting up of field testing facilities for both stationary and mobile sectors.

Emphasising the need for creating a manufacturing base for batteries in the country, the Minister asked the Department of Space and ISRO to share relevant technologies with the Industry.

Stressing the need to start manufacturing of cells in India, the Industry representatives requested for a favourable fiscal regime. They also expressed the need to create an enabling environment for recycling of batteries in India.

The statement said that Singh assured the battery manufacturers that the Government would take all possible measures to incentivise battery manufacturing in India.

Renewable Energy Secretary Anand Kumar was among the dignitaries present at the meeting which saw participation from major battery & electric vehicles manufacturers, ISRO, MEITY, Niti Aayog and MNRE (Ministry of New and Renwable Energy).