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Companies with plans of making advanced battery cells in India will soon have a second shot at qualifying for the INR 18,100 crore production-linked incentives scheme for the sector.
The government has kickstarted the process to select companies for subsidising up to 20 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of battery cell making capacity as part of PLI scheme for advanced chemistry cells (ACC), said people with direct knowledge of the matter.
This, after Hyundai Global Motors, one of the four companies chosen for the scheme in March 2022, was disqualified in August for misrepresenting itself as having ties with the eponymous leading automaker.
IFCI, which is the project management agency for the scheme, is in the process of hiring a consulting firm for revising the bid document for the scheme, sources said.
However, companies which had been put on a waitlist for the scheme will also have to apply for the scheme afresh as significant time has lapsed since then, sources said. These include Mahindra & Mahindra, Exide Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Amara Raja Batteries and India Power Corporation.
The ministry of heavy industries, which is overseeing the PLI-ACC scheme, did not respond to a request for comment.
The development holds significance for nearly a dozen companies that have shown interest in getting into battery cell manufacturing anticipating high demand for these with the rise in adoption of electric vehicles.
At present, all battery cells used in India are imported and the Narendra Modi government is keen to India being self-reliant for this resource.
Earlier this month, the Tata Group announced plans to set up a lithium-ion cell manufacturing giga factory in Gujarat at an investment of INR 13,000 crore.
