Exide Industries plans to commission the first phase of its lithium-ion cell manufacturing plant in Bangalore by the end of 2024-25.

Phase 1 of the Rs 6,000 crore project would entail a capacity of 6 GWh (gigawatt hour). The total project capacity is 12 GWh.

“The construction of the greenfield lithium-ion cell manufacturing project at Bangalore is going on in full swing and we expect to commence phase 1 by the end of next year (FY 2024-25),” Subir Chakraborty, MD and CEO of Exide Industries, said in response to shareholders’ query at the company’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.

“All critical hiring of senior management and middle management is largely in place,” he added. The company is bullish on the prospects of lithium-ion even as the country may have a multi-chemistry energy mix in the future.

“Estimates suggest that nearly 70 per cent of the total annual lithium-ion battery demand is expected to be for automotive applications and remaining for industrial applications,” he said.

According to Exide’s annual report, the projected demand for lithium-ion batteries by 2030 is estimated to be around 150GWh according to industry estimates.

Exide has a 1.5GWh factory in Gujarat under Exide Energy Private Limited (EEPL) with an order book of Rs 700 crore to be executed in 12-15 months. The 12GWh factory at Bangalore would be under Exide Energy Solutions Limited (EESL). Exide plans to consolidate its lithium-ion business under one company.

In 2023-24, the company has planned a capex of Rs 700 crore so far towards increasing capacity, technology upgradation and meeting statutory and compliance requirements.

While the automotive demand will be driven by higher adoption of electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, intra-city buses and last-mile connectivity, the telecom towers and data centres would be key demand drivers on the industrial side.

Exide currently has a 1.5GWh factory in Gujarat under Exide Energy Private Limited (EEPL) with an order book of Rs 700 crore to be executed in 12-15 months. The 12GWh factory at Bangalore would be under Exide Energy Solutions Limited (EESL). Exide plans to consolidate its lithium-ion business under one company.

“The lithium-ion venture would be one unit finally which will be EESL,” Chakraborty said.

In 2023-24, the company has planned a capex of Rs 700 crore so far towards increasing capacity, technology upgradation and meeting statutory and compliance requirements.

“We are a debt-free company with a healthy cash reserve and do not see any difficulty in financing capex as and when required,” he said.

The automotive and industrial battery maker has seen a “minor setback” in exports to the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) due to anti-dumping duty on batteries.

“GCC countries have imposed anti-dumping duty on Indian batteries. That has to some extent reduced our comparative advantage in the GCC countries. Although we are still continuing to export, the kind of volumes that were possible earlier perhaps will not be possible now. We are finding other markets. There are opportunities in Russia, Europe, US and so many other countries,” he said after the AGM.

Exports constitute around 8 per cent of the company’s turnover and the company plans to increase the share in future.