R K Singh, Union Minister of State (IC), Power and New & Renewable Energy held a meeting with battery manufacturers in New Delhi, on March 23, 2018 for discussing the creation of an ecosystem for incentivising battery manufacturing in India.

In the meeting, Singh requested the industry to set up battery manufacturing units in India, as the future demand was going to be high, on the back of the government promoting EVs in a big way.

“Tenders for procuring e-vehicles have already been issued and we have started procuring the vehicles. This is going to increase,” said Singh. 

Asserting that the future bids will be for solar/wind hybrid coupled with storage, the minister said that the government will soon come out with a policy in this regard, and the focus will be on ‘Make in India’.

Addressing the issue of adequate supply of raw materials for manufacturing of batteries, Singh said that the government has already initiated interaction with resource-rich countries such as Bolivia.

Make in India
Industry representatives raised the issue of high GST rates on batteries, and demanded that for promoting Make in India, the preference should be given to Indian made batteries in government procurement. They also stressed upon the need for creating Indian standards for batteries and setting up of field testing facilities for both stationary and mobile sectors. The representatives stressed on the need to start manufacturing of cells in India, requesting for a favourable fiscal regime, and to create an enabling environment for recycling of batteries in India.

Responding to the industry’s query, Singh said he had asked the Department of Space and ISRO to share relevant technologies with the Industry. He further assured the battery manufacturers that the government would take all possible measures to incentivise battery manufacturing in India.

(Image courtesy - RK Singh office - Twitter)