Reliance, Mahindra bid for incentives under India’s battery scheme

Reliance Industries, Hyundai Motor Company, and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) are among the firms which have submitted bids for incentives under the government's Rs 18,000-crore billion battery scheme.

In 2021, India finalised an incentive program to promote firms to pump in the local production of batteries since it plans to set up a domestic supply chain for clean transport and build storage for renewable energy.

The deadline to present the technical bids is Friday. Ola Electric, Larsen & Toubro and Amara Raja and Exide have additionally presented proposals.

In five years, India wants to set up a total of 50 gigawatt-hours (Gwh) of battery storage capacity and anticipates a direct investment of nearly $6 billion.

To be eligible for the incentives, firms must install at least 5 Gwh of storage capacity and meet specific local content requirements, all of which would need a minimum investment of over $850 million.

About 10 firms have presented bids totalling close to 100 Gwh.

India was additionally promoting global firms like Samsung, LG Energy, Tesla Inc, Northvolt and Panasonic to fund.

Clean auto technology is a fundamental part of India's plan for decreasing pollution in significant cities and lowering oil dependence.

But electric vehicles (EVs) presently make up a fraction of total sales in the nation largely because of their high cost as batteries are imported.

The South Asian nation requires electric cars to make up 30% of private car sales by 2030 and for electric motorcycles and scooters to make up 40% of such sales, pushing demand for batteries which presently add approximately 35% to 40% of the total vehicle cost.

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