WB Chief Minister inaugurates Exide Industries new plant in Haldia

The new plant set up within the Exide Industries Haldia plant premises will be used to produce the punched grid technology to manufacture technically advanced lead acid storage batteries. The company will invest Rs 700 crore in its new plant in Haldia.

Discussing about the new punch grid technology, Gautam Chatterjee, Managing Director & CEO, Exide Industries said: “The new punched grid technology, as opposed to the older expanded metal technology, will catapult the industry to a new height in terms of product reliability and customer satisfaction. These batteries will be produced through rolled sheet which will have a higher longevity.”

“The new range of batteries will not only be a lot more robust, being manufactured in a modern plant with advanced robotics and automation, the manufacturing process will also eliminate human errors to a large extent,”  he added.

Presently the plant will manufacture these new technology batteries for four wheelers. The company will invest additional Rs 300 crore to produce similar batteries for motorcycles from April.

On  the impact of demonitisation, Chatterjee said: “As the sale of two wheelers has gone down by 30 per cent post demonetisation, we have noticed a dip in our sales of OEM (original equipment manufacturer) in December.”

"We have not felt any impact in the sales for replacement market, as dealers have to pay in advance for their orders,” he added.

The 41 acres Haldia Plant produces both automotive as well as industrial batteries. The factory contributes more than 30 % to Exide’s total business by producing 2.3 million batteries annually.

Discussing the company’s future expansion plan Chatterjee said: “Presently the plant's capacity is 2.3 million batteries annually. With this new plant we look forward to produce 3.5 million from the next fiscal year.”

The company has been looking for 25 acres of land adjacent to the existing factory.

“Once we get the additional 25 acres land from the HDA (Haldia Development Authority), we are planning  to set up a smelting plant there with an investment of Rs 120 crore,” said Chatterjee.

Apart from Haldia, the company also has battery manufacturing plants at Shamnagar (West Bengal), Hosur (Tamil Nadu), Chinchwad, Ahmednagar and Taloja in Maharashtra, Bawal (Haryana), Pune, Uttaranchal and Bangalore.

(Reporting by Adit Majumder)