In a major push to make India an electric vehicle hub, Vikram Handa, son-in-law of steel tycoon Sajjan Jindal, is planning to set up a manufacturing facility of lithium-ion battery parts under Epsilon Advanced Materials Pvt Ltd
According to the Bloomberg report, the facility will come up in the southern state of Karnataka in August. It will source raw materials from the largest steel mill in India, which Sajjan Jindal owns.
The report also stated that Handa plans to invest INR 6,000 cr ($807 million) to manufacture 100,000 tons of synthetic graphite anode by 2030, or about 10% of the estimated global demand.
Synthetic graphite anodes are the negative electrodes in lithium-ion batteries that account for over 25% of a cell's components. Globally, China is the largest producer of anodes. It manufactures over 80% of the global supply and uses raw materials imported from countries like India.
The new facility in India is most likely to break some China's monopoly by providing anodes to electric vehicle manufacturers in India.
In the report, Vikram Handa, Founder, Epsilon Advanced Materials Pvt Ltd said, 'I'm quite optimistic on the outlook for India's battery space over the next decade. It's going to take another two to three years for really serious money to go into this space, but after, you'll see a lot of money pouring into it. India is such a big auto market that one cannot ignore it.'