Amara Raja Batteries breaks ground on third plant in Andhra Pradesh

In the first phase, the new facility will have a capacity of 6.5 million units with scalability to 10.8 million units, making it one of the largest facilities of its kind in the country.

By Autocar Professional Bureau

15 Oct 2018

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Amara Raja Group chairman Ramachandra N Galla, and Vijayanand S, CEO, Amara Raja Batteries at the foundation stone laying ceremony.

Amara Raja Batteries Ltd (ARBL), India’s leading industrial and automotive battery company, today laid the foundation stone for its third automotive battery plant at Amara Raja Growth Corridor Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh.

Amaranatha Reddy, Minister of Industries, Food Processing, Agri-Business, Commerce and Public Enterprises, Government of Andhra Pradesh laid the foundation stone, Dr. Ramachandra N Galla, chairman, Amara Raja Group and Vijayanand S, CEO, Amara Raja Batteries, were present along with the senior management team of Amara Raja.

In the first phase, the new facility will have a capacity of 6.5 million units with an estimated investment of Rs 700 crore. The plant's manufacturing capacity can be scaled up to 10.8 million units, which is when it will employ 1,300 people, making it one of the largest facilities of its kind in the country.

Recently, the company signed a technology collaboration agreement with long-time partner, Johnson Controls to introduce advanced battery technologies to India. As per the agreement, the two companies will share best practices and improve product design and manufacturing technologies, enabling higher performance across Starting, Lighting and Ignition (SLI), Enhanced Flooded Batteries (EFB) and Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) batteries.

Dr Ramachandra N Galla, chairman, Amara Raja Batteries, said, “The country is experiencing a phenomenal rate of growth, which has opened up a plethora of opportunities for increasing production and consumption. We have always set new benchmarks in innovation-led manufacturing and consolidated our market leadership in the country by expanding our capacities and adopting advanced technologies, both in automotive, as well as industrial products. We have witnessed significant growth across all our business verticals over the year and we are confident of registering even greater growth rates, in the coming times."

In the automotive sector, the company supplies batteries under OE basis to Ashok Leyland, Ford India, Honda Cars India, Hyundai Motor India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki India, and Tata Motors.