Amara Raja to invest Rs 9,500 crore in Telangana, to set up lithium-ion battery gigafactory

Amara Raja Batteries signed an MoU with the Telangana government to set up a lithium-ion battery gigafactory in Mahbubnagar district of the state. The gigafactory will have an ultimate capacity of up to 16 GWh and a battery pack assembly unit of up to 5 GWh. The company said that it aims to invest Rs 9,500 crore in the region over the next 10 years. 

The industrial and automotive battery major said that the facility will be a state-of-the-art research and manufacturing facility. Amara Raja will invest Rs 9,500 crore over the next 10 years, after necessary approvals. 

The announcement was made in the presence of Minister for Industry and Commerce KT Rama Rao, and other senior officials. Congratulating the company, KT Rama Rao said, "Telangana has been a frontrunner in adopting sustainability, and it is a proud moment for the state to welcome the country’s largest ever investment in the lithium-ion cell manufacturing sector. Our aim is to become the most electrified state in India and having a gigafactory in Telangana further strengthens our aspiration to become an EV manufacturing hub and spearhead the EV revolution in India." 

The company said that the initial facilities would include a first-of-its-kind advanced energy research and innovation centre in Hyderabad, to be called the Amara Raja E-hub. The facility will be equipped with advanced laboratories and testing infrastructure for material research, prototyping, product life cycle analysis and Proof of Concept demonstration. 

Amara Raja would establish a commercial scale pilot plant and the first giga scale cell production facility in the run up to the giga scale manufacturing of cell technology products. The company announced the incorporation of a subsidiary called Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies on November 3 towards this

The battery maker has been working on the lithium-ion cell chemistries suited for the Indian subcontinent conditions. It already supplies lithium battery packs and chargers to some two- and three-wheeler OEMs. 

Amara Raja Batteries Chairman & Managing Director Jayadev Galla, said, "This strategic partnership with the Government of Telangana is a giant leap for Amara Raja and will bring in the impetus for innovations in sustainable technologies for the whole region, in addition to generating employment opportunities. We have had a long association with the state and are excited to finally have the opportunity to establish an industrial base here.” 

Vikramadithya Gourineni, Executive Director, New Energy Business, said that this latest step is in line with the energy and mobility roadmap that the country laid out last year. Our ambition is to develop a robust Indian ecosystem with R&D, incubation, testing, and manufacturing – a giga corridor for emerging technologies in energy and mobility.”

Also read: How battery maker Amara Raja is pivoting to electric mobility