BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s Himadri Speciality Chemical said on Wednesday it would set up a facility to make lithium-ion battery components for an estimated project cost of 48 billion rupees ($576.12 million).
Shares of the company jumped nearly 6% to a record high of 307 rupees.
Lithium-ion batteries, which power electric vehicles (EV) and used to store energy, are expected to play a key role in India’s goal to be a net zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2070.
The country is expected to see sales of more than 10 million EVs a year by 2030, rising more than ten fold from the last fiscal year, according to a recent annual Economic Survey.
Himadri Speciality was among at least a dozen Indian and foreign companies which participated in the government’s auction this year of some newly found lithium blocks.
The plant will aim to make 200,000 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of lithium iron phosphate, one of the key materials used in making lithium-ion battery cells, in phases over the next five-six years, the company, said in a stock exchange filing.
The company added that at the full utilization of the plant, it expects to generate a revenue of about 4 times the capital expenditure.
The first phase of the capacity expansion, at an estimated cost of 11.25 billion rupees, will be of 40,000 MTPA and operational in 27 to 36 months at the eastern Indian state of Odisha, said the company, which also makes specialty chemicals for textile, oil and gas.
($1 = 83.3160 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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