Amara Raja to invest Rs 27cr in expansion

Amara Raja Batteries Ltd expects to expand its manufacturing capacities of both industrial and automotive batteries. The expansion projects would involve an investment of Rs 27.1 crore.

A company press statement said that the board of directors of the company has approved the expansion of its automotive battery capacity to 3.6 million units from 3 million units per year, at an investment of Rs 16.4 crore.

On the industrial battery front, the board approved the expansion of the industrial 2 volt VRLA battery capacity to 350 million AH from 240 million AH per year. This would entail an estimated cost of Rs 10.7 crore. These expansions are expected to be completed during the current financial year.

The statement further said that the earlier expansion was in October 2005. Prior to this, the company had announced the expansion of its automotive battery manufacturing capacity to 2.4 million units from 1.5 million units per year, in January 2005.

Jay Galla, managing director, Amara Raja Batteries, said, "With the completion of the current expansion proposal, we would have more than doubled automotive battery capacity in less than two years. Even after this expansion, we would find the demand for our batteries exceeding the supply."