Reliance, Ola, Land T, Hyundai bid for Rs 18,100 crore incentive scheme for battery production

Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ola and South Korea's Hyundai Motors are among 10 firms that have submitted bids under Rs 18,100 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for battery manufacturing in India, the Ministry of Heavy Industries said on Saturday. 

"A total of 10 companies submitted their bids under the Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage Programme in India for which Request for Proposal (RFP) was released by Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) on 22nd October 2021," the Ministry of Heavy Industries said in a statement. 

The companies who have applied for the ACC PLI scheme are: Reliance New Energy Solar Limited, (a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited), Hyundai Global Motors Company Limited, Ola Electric Mobility Private Limited, Lucas-TVS Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Amara Raja Batteries Limited, Exide Industries Limited, Rajesh Exports Limited, Larsen & Toubro Limited, and India Power Corporation Limited. 

The scheme was open for receiving applications till 11:00:00 hours IST on January 14, 2022, and the technical bids were opened on January 15, 2022. The selected firms would be required to set up the manufacturing facility within a period of two years. The incentive will be disbursed thereafter over a period of five years on the sale of batteries manufactured in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi government approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme 'National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage' for achieving manufacturing capacity of 50 Giga Watt Hour (GWh) of ACC for enhancing India's manufacturing capabilities with a budgetary outlay of Rs 18,100 crore. 

Under this scheme, the emphasis of the government is to achieve greater domestic value addition, while at the same time ensuring that the levelised cost of battery manufacturing in India is globally competitive. "The programme is designed in such a manner that it is technology agnostic. 

The beneficiary firm shall be free to choose suitable advanced technology and the corresponding plant and machinery, raw material and other intermediate goods for setting up cell manufacturing facility to cater to any application," the Ministry of Heavy Industries said. 

The programme envisages an investment that will boost domestic manufacturing and also facilitate battery storage demand creation for both electric vehicles and stationary storage along with the development of a complete domestic supply chain and Foreign Direct Investment in the country. 

"ACC PLI scheme is expected to result in saving to the nation on account of reduction in import of crude oil to a significant extent and increase the share of renewable energy at the national grid level," the ministry said. 

This PLI scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) (Rs 18,100 crore) along with the already launched PLI Scheme for the automotive sector (Rs 25,938 crore) and Faster Adaption of Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) (Rs 10,000 crore) will enable India to leapfrog from traditional fossil fuel-based automobile transportation system to environmentally cleaner, sustainable, advanced and more efficient Electric Vehicles (EV) based system, it added.