Exide to expand operations in Haldia, plans India’s largest battery recycling plant

Exide Industries, the country’s largest lead-acid storage battery maker, has announced plans for expansion in Haldia, West Bengal, where it already has its biggest battery manufacturing plant.

By Autocar Professional Bureau

07 Aug 2018

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West Bengal’s minister for transport and environment and chairman of Haldia Development Authority, Suvendu Adhikari along with Gautam Chatterjee, MD and CEO of Exide Industries and other delegates.

West Bengal’s minister for Transport and Environment and chairman, Haldia Development Authority, Suvendu Adhikari and Gautam Chatterjee, MD and CEO, Exide Industries with other delegates at the plant

The company has announced two major projects that include the setting up of a lead recycling plant in collaboration with Italy’s Energitech Technologies and a 40,000 square metre facility where manufacture nickel-cadmium batteries, set up a mega charging station and add battery manufacturing capacity.

“We are embarking on a two-pronged strategy to make Haldia one of the largest and integrated self-sufficient battery making centres in Southeast Asia where we manufacture everything from recycled lead to finished battery,” said Gautam Chatterjee, MD and CEO, Exide Industries. “While on the one hand, we will expand the existing battery making plant on a 20-acre site allotted to us by the Kolkata Port Trust authorities, we will also set up a greenfield battery recycling plant with latest European technology on another 20-acre plot provided by the Haldia Development Authority,” Chatterjee added.

The battery manufacturing expansion project and the greenfield battery recycling plant will be funded by the company’s internal reserves. In FY2019, the company plans a capital expenditure of Rs 1,100 crore, with a bulk of that being be spent on these two projects.