Munoth Industries to start making lithium-ion cells at Tirupati unit

Munoth Industries Ltd. (MIL) has announced the pre-production of lithium-ion cells for the consumer electronics segment at its soon-to-be inaugurated Tirupati unit.

“We will start pre-production on September 16. The commercial production and formal opening of the facility is slated for mid-October,” said vice chairman Jaswant Munoth.

The trial run will be inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday.

The new facility entails an investment of ₹799 crores in three phases. In the first phase, it will produce cells for consumer electronics such as mobile phones, hearable and wearable devices, followed by batteries for energy storage system and two-and-three wheeler electric vehicles.

“It is the first lithium ion cell manufacturing facility, developed and operated by an Indian firm. In the first phase, we will invest ₹165 crore to produce 20,000 cells of 10Ah capacity daily and employ about 250 people,” he said.

According to him, MIL has tied up with China-based Tianjin Lishen, BPI and Amprius for technology and the end product will be supplied to boAt, Amazon Basics, Xiaomi and Ambrane.

Mr. Munoth said that currently India imports ₹15,000-20,000 crore of lithium ion cells from China, South Korea, Vietnam and Hong Kong. The new facility would meet 60% of India’s requirement.

In the next two phases, MIL will make cells for energy storage system and EV segment. The civil works will start by March 23 and September 23 respectively.

“After the completion of third phase, MIL will be a 1.25 GWh firm employing about 800 people. We are planning to hit the capital market by mid-2024. Besides, we will also lay strong focus on R&D to supply technology to other firms to make cells,” Mr. Munoth said.

To a question, he said it would take at least four to five years to achieve break even. MIL hopes to register a sales turnover of ₹450 crore in the first year.