The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has announced the name of the four companies that have been selected for incentives under the government of India's ambitious Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage. Reliance New Energy Solar (5 GWh); Ola Electric Mobility (20 GWh); Hyundai Global Motors Company (20 GWh) and Rajesh Exports (5 GWh) will receive incentives under the Rs 18,100 crore programme to boost local battery cell production.

Interestingly, a total of 10 companies had put in a bid to qualify for the PLI scheme, of which 9 companies were "found responsive and met the conditions of eligibility" as per the requirement under the Request for Proposal. Final evaluation of the selected bidders was carried out as per Quality & Cost Based Selection (QCBS) mechanism and the bidders were ranked on the basis of their combined technical and financial score. The ACC capacities have been allocated in order of their rank, till a cumulative capacity of 50 GWh per year and the shortlisted bidders that have not been successful in securing allocation are placed under a waiting list. The companies who have been placed under the waiting list include – Mahindra & Mahindra, Exide Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Amara Raja Batteries and India Power Corporation – for a cumulative bid of 68 GWh.

MHI says the shortlisted companies will need to set up the manufacturing facility within two years and the incentive will be disbursed thereafter over a period of five years on sale of batteries manufactured in India.

Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, cabinet Minister for Heavy Industries, government of India said, “Today, the increase in demand for EVs due to a favourable regulatory framework, has mainly attracted investment in this sector. Today big companies are investing in electric vehicle manufacturing in India and are interested to join us. We should give them more encouragement and keep trying to make India a manufacturing hub.”

The PLI scheme focussing on battery storage aims to achieve manufacturing capacity of 50 Giga Watt Hour (GWh) of ACC for enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities and puts emphasis to achieve greater domestic value addition, while at the same time ensure that the levelised cost of battery manufacturing in India is globally competitive. The technology agnostic program allows the beneficiary firm to choose suitable advanced technology and the corresponding plant, machinery, raw material and other intermediate goods for setting up cell manufacturing facility to cater to any application.

The Program envisages an investment which will boost domestic manufacturing and also facilitate battery storage demand creation for both EVs and stationary storage along with development of a complete domestic supply chain and FDI in the country. The government expects that the ACC PLI scheme will accelerate EV adoption and hence translate into net savings of Rs 200,000 crore to Rs  250,000 crore on account of oil import bill during the period of the programme and increase the share of renewable energy at the national grid level.