China curbs no bar: Amara Raja goes solo to unlock homegrown battery tech for India
A large part of Amara Raja's battery cell team is Indian nationals who have worked in large battery companies around the world, Vikramadithya Gourineni, Executive Director of New Energy Business at Amara Raja Energy & Mobility, said.
- Jun 22, 2026,
- Updated Jun 22, 2026 4:18 PM IST
India’s ambitions to produce battery cells locally ran into delays after China imposed export curbs on access to battery cell technology. Barring Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric that has begun commercial operations with 2.5 GWh of capacity, no other battery cell player in India has hit the ground running.
Even Anant Ambani, Executive Director of Reliance Industries — one of the key beneficiaries of the Rs 18,100 crore battery PLI scheme — acknowledged that access to battery technology is being weaponised at the company’s 49th Annual General Meeting.
Amid all these hurdles, Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Ltd, a major lead-acid battery player that lost out on the Advanced Chemistry Cell PLI scheme, is building the technical know-how in-house after its proposed partnership with China’s Gotion hit a wall.
“Technology can be accelerated through partnerships, and technology can also be developed in-house. We announced our own large-scale partnership to accelerate development. That unfortunately, has not moved ahead due to geopolitical reasons,” Vikramadithya Gourineni, Executive Director of New Energy Business at Amara Raja Energy & Mobility, told Business Today in an interview.
Amara Raja’s first 2 gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery cell gigafactory is expected to be commissioned in June next year. “We will add 16 GWh of capacity in phases by 2030-31,” says Gourineni.
But before Amara Rara starts its gigafactory, the company is commissioning a sample line.
“Our first facility is getting commissioned right now. We are looking to operationalise our qualification plant. This is not a gigafactory. It is something that produces cells on a megawatt-hour scale. It is 100 MWh. It’s more of a new sample line,” says Gourineni.
Today, Amara Raja is doing everything in-house. “Technical know-how is available. A large part of our team is Indian nationals who have worked in large battery companies around the world,” says Gourineni.
“We have our own teams that are building cell capabilities. At Amara Raja, we have spent almost $100 million on two facilities: a research engineering centre and a qualification plant,” he explains, adding that the company is going ahead with “largely in-house efforts.”
Amara Raja’s will first produce NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) lithium-ion cells to cater to India’s growing electric two-wheeler market. “Going forward, whether it's NMC, LFP, future chemistries, the efforts of the product development are largely driven by teams in India,” says Gourineni.
Will Indian automakers buy local cells?
Selling homegrown cells to automakers could turn out to be a far bigger task than making battery cells locally.
Amara Raja, which plans to invest Rs 9,500 crore to set up 16 GWh of cell capacity, is not sure if automakers in India would be willing to pay a premium for locally produced cells.
“We do not have clarity on the type of pricing our customers are willing to pay,” admits Gourineni. “Made in China” prices for battery cells are not realistic to expect on Day One,” he adds.
In August 2024, Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies (ARACT), a wholly owned subsidiary of Amara Raja Energy & Mobility, signed an agreement with Ather Energy to develop and supply NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) and LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) and other advanced chemistry cells, produced locally at their upcoming Gigafactory in Divitipally, Telangana.
Since then, things have slowed down because of several issues.
“We are dependent on equipment suppliers outside the country. Qualified technicians are not able to come for installation and commissioning of equipment. It’s a big challenge. It delays things quite a bit,” says Gourineni.
India is still dependent on capital goods coming from China for cell production. “When that equipment is being imported, the technicians from those countries are required to come and help with installation process. It’s not only China, but our own government is also not willing to give visa to these people,” rues Gourineni.
India’s ambitions to produce battery cells locally ran into delays after China imposed export curbs on access to battery cell technology. Barring Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric that has begun commercial operations with 2.5 GWh of capacity, no other battery cell player in India has hit the ground running.
Even Anant Ambani, Executive Director of Reliance Industries — one of the key beneficiaries of the Rs 18,100 crore battery PLI scheme — acknowledged that access to battery technology is being weaponised at the company’s 49th Annual General Meeting.
Amid all these hurdles, Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Ltd, a major lead-acid battery player that lost out on the Advanced Chemistry Cell PLI scheme, is building the technical know-how in-house after its proposed partnership with China’s Gotion hit a wall.
“Technology can be accelerated through partnerships, and technology can also be developed in-house. We announced our own large-scale partnership to accelerate development. That unfortunately, has not moved ahead due to geopolitical reasons,” Vikramadithya Gourineni, Executive Director of New Energy Business at Amara Raja Energy & Mobility, told Business Today in an interview.
Amara Raja’s first 2 gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery cell gigafactory is expected to be commissioned in June next year. “We will add 16 GWh of capacity in phases by 2030-31,” says Gourineni.
But before Amara Rara starts its gigafactory, the company is commissioning a sample line.
“Our first facility is getting commissioned right now. We are looking to operationalise our qualification plant. This is not a gigafactory. It is something that produces cells on a megawatt-hour scale. It is 100 MWh. It’s more of a new sample line,” says Gourineni.
Today, Amara Raja is doing everything in-house. “Technical know-how is available. A large part of our team is Indian nationals who have worked in large battery companies around the world,” says Gourineni.
“We have our own teams that are building cell capabilities. At Amara Raja, we have spent almost $100 million on two facilities: a research engineering centre and a qualification plant,” he explains, adding that the company is going ahead with “largely in-house efforts.”
Amara Raja’s will first produce NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) lithium-ion cells to cater to India’s growing electric two-wheeler market. “Going forward, whether it's NMC, LFP, future chemistries, the efforts of the product development are largely driven by teams in India,” says Gourineni.
Will Indian automakers buy local cells?
Selling homegrown cells to automakers could turn out to be a far bigger task than making battery cells locally.
Amara Raja, which plans to invest Rs 9,500 crore to set up 16 GWh of cell capacity, is not sure if automakers in India would be willing to pay a premium for locally produced cells.
“We do not have clarity on the type of pricing our customers are willing to pay,” admits Gourineni. “Made in China” prices for battery cells are not realistic to expect on Day One,” he adds.
In August 2024, Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies (ARACT), a wholly owned subsidiary of Amara Raja Energy & Mobility, signed an agreement with Ather Energy to develop and supply NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) and LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) and other advanced chemistry cells, produced locally at their upcoming Gigafactory in Divitipally, Telangana.
Since then, things have slowed down because of several issues.
“We are dependent on equipment suppliers outside the country. Qualified technicians are not able to come for installation and commissioning of equipment. It’s a big challenge. It delays things quite a bit,” says Gourineni.
India is still dependent on capital goods coming from China for cell production. “When that equipment is being imported, the technicians from those countries are required to come and help with installation process. It’s not only China, but our own government is also not willing to give visa to these people,” rues Gourineni.