Make in India: Centre to set up Rs 50,000 cr Lithium battery factory

After the big firms like Elon Musk’s Tesla and two Chinese companies-- Contemporary Amperex Technology and BYD Auto, have shown interest in being part of the Narendra Modi government’s plan of Make in India, the centre has decided to invest around Rs 50,000 crore to build mega factories to produce lithium-ion batteries in the country. The plan is aimed at securing India’s energy needs as the government pushes the adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the country.

New Delhi: In its endeavour to make India a global manufacturing hub for electric vehicles with clean energy, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is all set to build a Rs 50000 crore lithium-ion battery manufacturing factory in the country.

A top government official in the MNRE ministry told ETV Bharat that Japan, USA, China among others have shown interest to take up the task for setting up these huge factories.

"Tesla and China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL), BYD Co. Ltd. have shown initial interest to build large scale factories to make lithium batteries," said the official on condition of anonymity.

The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) has already cleared the plan the setup these 50-gigawatt (GW) factories. "The matter will now come up in the cabinet for the final nod," said the official.

The MNRE ministry is expecting to award the final tender by February-March. "We are yet to take a final call on the location for this huge factory," said the official.

As many as four to five locations will be identified for setting up the factories, an official said.

The move was initiated to make India a global manufacturing hub for electric vehicles and their components. This initiative was also taken to cater to the need of India's energy sector.

"The decision taken by the government is a very good step. What we need at present is clean energy. Whether it is hydro energy or thermal energy, these are delivering emissions which are polluting the environment at a large extent. So we need clean energy in the form of solar and wind. And, lithium battery will definitely keep our environment safe," said renowned environmentalist Dr Anil Goyal to this correspondent.

Read: High import duties keeping Tesla off Indian roads: Elon Musk

Dr Goyal also said that setting up of battery factory will definitely boost the Government of India's 'Make in India' concept.

"When we produce electronic vehicles, we will be able to save money from being diverted to foreign countries. At the same time, this will create employment opportunities," Dr Goyal said.

According to MNRE official, each gigawatt (1,000-megawatt-hours) of battery capacity can also power 1 million homes for an hour and around 30,000 electric cars.

"These factories will not only support electric vehicles but will also help in producing clean energy for India's power sector," said the official.

According to government think tank Niti Aayog, India will need six such GW scale facilities (of 10GWh each) by 2025 and 12 by 2030.

"This battery storage will also cater to electricity grids, given the intermittent nature of electricity from clean energy sources such as solar and wind," said the official.

As per government records, India, at present, is one of the top renewable energy producers globally with an installed renewable energy capacity of about 80 gigawatts with plans to achieve 175 GW by 2022 and 500 GW by 2030.

In fact, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget in July, announced for setting up mega manufacturing plants for solar photovoltaic cells, solar electric charging infrastructure among others.

The MNRE ministry is also giving thrust to generate more solar energy. Statistics says India's solar capacities have grown almost tenfold from about 3GW in the financial year 2014 to about 27 GW at present.