PLI Scheme to Expand Domestic Advanced Chemistry Cell Capacity

12 Feb 2026 CW Team

Under Round-two bidding, one beneficiary, Reliance New Energy Battery Ltd, signed the programme agreement with MHI on 17 February 2025 to establish an ACC manufacturing facility of 10 GWh capacity. The scheme period for Round-two is seven years from the appointed date of 01.07.2025, with the first two years designated as a gestation period. The agreement reflects a phased approach to capacity building and commercial production timelines.

The scheme provides incentives based on quoted subsidy per kWh and on the percentage of value addition achieved on actual sales by manufacturers. Beneficiaries must achieve at least 25 per cent value addition within two years at the mother unit level and raise value addition to 60 per cent within five years from the appointed date. The policy is technologically agnostic and allocates higher support to superior technologies while allowing qualifying research and development expenditure to count towards investment criteria.

The programme is intended to reduce dependence on imported advanced chemistry cells by enhancing domestic manufacturing capabilities and competitiveness across the supply chain. The ministry conveyed these details in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, setting out compliance timelines and incentive mechanisms for participating firms. Implementation will be monitored against value addition milestones and production targets to support orderly domestic capacity expansion.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) is administering the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, the National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage, approved in May 2021 with a total outlay of Rs 181 billion (Rs 181 bn) to establish 50 GWh of domestic Advanced Chemistry Cell manufacturing capacity. The scheme aims to build domestic scale and resilience in battery storage supply chains while encouraging investment in the latest cell technologies. The PLI is designed to attract large domestic and international manufacturers through structured incentives linked to production and value addition. Under Round-two bidding, one beneficiary, Reliance New Energy Battery Ltd, signed the programme agreement with MHI on 17 February 2025 to establish an ACC manufacturing facility of 10 GWh capacity. The scheme period for Round-two is seven years from the appointed date of 01.07.2025, with the first two years designated as a gestation period. The agreement reflects a phased approach to capacity building and commercial production timelines. The scheme provides incentives based on quoted subsidy per kWh and on the percentage of value addition achieved on actual sales by manufacturers. Beneficiaries must achieve at least 25 per cent value addition within two years at the mother unit level and raise value addition to 60 per cent within five years from the appointed date. The policy is technologically agnostic and allocates higher support to superior technologies while allowing qualifying research and development expenditure to count towards investment criteria. The programme is intended to reduce dependence on imported advanced chemistry cells by enhancing domestic manufacturing capabilities and competitiveness across the supply chain. The ministry conveyed these details in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, setting out compliance timelines and incentive mechanisms for participating firms. Implementation will be monitored against value addition milestones and production targets to support orderly domestic capacity expansion.

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