Matsushita eyes stake in batteries venture

Matsushita Electric might pick up a stake in the assembly line of Panasonic automobile batteries in India. The company is also planning to make India its sourcing hub for the south Asian market.

The director of Matsushita battery, Takashi Okai, said the company's special focus was the automobile battery segment.

According to Okai, the battery company had two manufacturing bases in Japan and Thailand. It was looking at China and India for a third manufacturing base and had now decided on India.

"The company has to have a assembly line in India to take on market leader Exide in the segment. It has its UPS manufacturing facility in China. Auto battery could be done in India with a partner and the partner in India could be the source for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Myanmar markets," he added.

The managing director of Base Corp, Girish Aurora, the marketing associate of the Japanese giant, said the possibility of participation of the Japanese company in the Indian venture was under discussion.

Base Corp would set up an assembly line for automobile batteries and UPS in the country in 2005. "The company will invest Rs 100 crore in the assembly line for Panasonic batteries. Discussions are on with the Japanese company on the level of its involvement in the project," he said.

It set up a wholly owned subsidiary for UPS and automobile batteries last week in Thailand. The subsidiary was called Panasonic Storage Battery Ltd.

"The company is seriously looking at India for assembly line. It has set up a separate company for storage batteries in October 1, 2004. From now on PSB would look after battery operations," he said.

Meanwhile, Base Corporation said it is looking at the number two spot in the automobile batteries segment.

The company plans to penetrate the new car segment with its Panasonic automobile batteries in 2005, as a part of its strategy to fuel top line growth. Panasonic is now only present in the replacement market.

Aurora said the company would set up retail outlets for batteries in almost all the 10 lakh plus towns in the country by 2006. He was in Kolkata today to launch Panasonic automobile batteries in the eastern region.