Nov 21, 2024
Company News
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India has ambitious new energy goals: it plans to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 and increase the share of electric vehicles in total car sales to 30%. This directly creates huge demand in the battery market. According to forecasts, by 2030, the size of the Indian battery market will rise from about 50 billion RMB in 2025 to approximately 130 billion RMB.
To achieve these goals, the Indian government has adopted a 'carrot-and-stick' policy mix: on one hand, providing massive financial support and tax incentives, and on the other, through policies such as the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, requiring companies to increase localization rates to enjoy subsidies.
These policies have proven effective. Data shows that 75% of all batteries imported into India from 2023 to 2024 came from China, yet its domestic industry base remains relatively weak.
Indian domestic companies are accelerating their presence in the lithium battery industry chain through independent investment, technology collaboration, and vertical integration.
Tata Group's battery business company, Agrata, is rapidly constructing its world-class battery manufacturing plant in Sanand, Gujarat, with Phase I planned to have an annual capacity of 20 GWh. This project is seen as key to strengthening India's domestic advanced battery manufacturing capabilities.
Himadri is taking a breakthrough approach from the battery materials side. The company is building what it claims to be the "first commercial lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode active material plant outside China" in Odisha, with a long-term target capacity of 200,000 tons per year. Its strategic focus is to become an alternative supplier to "China 1."
Amara Raja Energy & Mobility is focusing on acquiring and developing cell manufacturing technology. Its commercial trial production plant for lithium-ion battery cells is in the late stages of construction, with plans to start production by the end of the 2025-2026 fiscal year (by the end of March 2026). At the same time, its first-phase large-scale cell manufacturing facility is also under construction, expected to provide an annual capacity of 2 GWh with provisions to expand to 16 GWh in the long term.
Another notable company is Nash Energy, which claims to be "India's first large-scale lithium iron phosphate cell manufacturer" and already has production capacity in Bangalore. The company plans to build a superfactory in phases with a total capacity of approximately 10 GWh.
In the face of the broad market, China's lithium battery industry chain enterprises are deeply involved in the development of the Indian market through product exports, technology licensing and localization cooperation.
Product export with large orders
The technology and cost advantages of Chinese companies make them highly competitive in the Indian market. In September 2025, ACME Solar, an Indian renewable energy producer, announced an order for a 2GWh battery energy storage system from a subsidiary of China Automobile New Energy. This is part of the more than 5GWh of energy storage products purchased by the company from Chinese manufacturers that year.
More strikingly, in August 2025, China Automobile New Energy signed a memorandum of cooperation with IndiGrid, India's largest power infrastructure investment trust, on a 5GWh energy storage system for 2026-2027. This is not only the largest single order between China and India in the field of new energy so far, but also marks the first time that a Chinese company has entered India's mainstream power grid with a "system-level long-term service" model.
Technical cooperation and localized production
In addition to direct exports, more Chinese companies choose to carry out a longer-term layout in the Indian market through technology licensing, equipment supply and the construction of local factories.
Honeycomb Energy signed an agreement with Indian battery manufacturer Exide Energy to assist it in building a 6GWh lithium battery plant in India.
Guoxuan Hi-Tech signed an agreement with Amara Raja to license its lithium iron phosphate battery technology and support it in building a battery factory in India.
· China Innovation Airlines has established a long-term exclusive partnership with Ashok Leyland, India's second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, and plans to invest more than 500 billion rupees (about 40.45 billion yuan) in the next 7-10 years to build battery manufacturing projects.
In addition to Chinese companies, companies from other countries have also entered the Indian market with different strategies. Some local Indian companies have chosen to cooperate with European and American technology companies to bypass their dependence on Chinese technology.
· Nash Energy's Collaboration with Rincell, Inc.: A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed to enable Rincell to transfer its high-rate nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery cell technology to Nash Energy for local production in India. This is designed to meet the needs of sectors such as drones, defense, aerospace, and electric vehicles.
· Reliance Industries' setback: Not all technology introductions are smooth sailing. Indian giant Reliance Industries had planned to cooperate with a leading Chinese lithium iron phosphate energy storage battery company to quickly establish battery cell production capacity through technology licensing. However, due to China's tightening of supervision of overseas transfer of key technologies, cooperation negotiations were interrupted, causing Reliance to shelving its local lithium battery production plan.
Despite the promising prospects, the path to India's lithium battery industry is fraught with challenges.
· Fragile supply chain: India lacks lithium resources and the supply chain is highly dependent on imports, making uncertainty a key obstacle to development.
· Complex policy environment: The Indian government's policies towards foreign investors are contradictory, encouraging foreign investment on the one hand, and setting high localization thresholds through PLI schemes on the other. Frequent policy changes also bring uncertainty to enterprises.
· Technology dependence: As can be seen from the case of Reliance Industries, it is not easy for Indian companies to obtain core technologies, especially advanced battery technology that bypasses China.
The competitive landscape of India’s lithium battery industry in the future will be a contest among multiple forces, including China, Japan, South Korea, and local players. In the short term, Chinese companies still have obvious advantages in technology integration and cost.
However, in the medium to long term, the key to winning will be who can achieve high yield and low-cost mass production locally in India first. The three-stage strategy currently adopted by Chinese companies—“technology, capital, localization”—may be a feasible path for seeking long-term development in India’s complex market environment.
India’s huge market potential means that this “dance between the dragon and the elephant” is unlikely to end easily. For all participants, this is not only a commercial competition but also a marathon of patience, adaptability, and strategic depth.
