 "Exide")
Construction of Exide Industries’ greenfield lithium-ion cell manufacturing project in Bengaluru is going on in full swing and commercial production of the first phase is expected by the end of next financial year (FY25).
This was stated by Subir Chakraborty, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), during the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday.
The plant, with a capacity of 12 gigawatt hours (GWh), would be set up in phases.
The first phase of 6 GWh would entail an investment of about Rs 4,000 crore. The total project cost of Rs 6,000 crore would be met through internal accruals as well as bridge loans.
Chakraborty said Exide had taken concrete steps towards setting up a multi-gigawatt hour lithium-ion cell unit in India.
He added, “We feel that it will greatly benefit us by giving us an early-mover advantage.”
More From This Section
Growth in electric vehicles was pushing up the demand for automotive lithium-ion batteries, globally.
Chakraborty said, “Our internal estimates suggest that nearly 70 per cent of our annual lithium-ion battery demand is expected to be for automotive applications. The remaining 30 per cent is for industrial applications.”
Even as the plant in Karnataka is in progress, Exide’s lithium-ion journey has already started in Gujarat under its subsidiary.
Exide Energy Private Limited (EEPL) makes the Nexcharge brand, supplying lithium-ion battery modules and packs.
Nexcharge has an order book of around Rs 700 crore, which would be executed in the next 12-5 months, Chakraborty said.
Later, he said that EEPL would be merged with Exide Energy Solutions (EESL). EESL is setting up the lithium-ion cell manufacturing project in Karnataka.
“The lithium-ion venture will be one unit, which will be EESL,” Chakraborty said. The Gujarat plant would, however, exist as a satellite unit of EESL.
Exide has a long-term technical partnership with SVOLT Energy Technology (SVOLT), a Chinese firm, for the lithium-ion cells project.
On business outlook, Chakraborty said, “We have come out of the pandemic phase. OEM (original equipment manufacturer) production has kicked in. There is a lot of investment in industrial applications because of the development of infrastructure projects in the public and private space. Overall, the outlook seems to be on the right track.”
On the export front, there was a ‘minor’ setback with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries imposing an anti-dumping duty on Indian batteries.
That has to some extent reduced the competitive advantage in these countries, Chakraborty said. He added that exports were continuing, though volumes would not be like earlier.
“We have to find other markets. The battery market is very large and there are opportunities in Russia, Europe and the US,” he said. Exide’s exports are at about 8 per cent of its turnover.
