Exide Energy Solutions Commissions a 6 GWh Lithium-Ion Cell Plant in Bengaluru

India's long-running effort to make its own lithium-ion cells, instead of importing them and assembling packs at home, reached a concrete milestone on 23 September 2026. Exide Energy Solutions Ltd (EESL), the lithium-ion subsidiary of lead-acid battery major Exide Industries, said it had completed commissioning of Phase I of its cell manufacturing facility at Devanahalli, Bengaluru, with a capacity of 6 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year.

The announcement, made through a stock-exchange filing, is one of the clearest signs yet that India's cell-making ambitions are moving from construction sites to working production lines.

What has been commissioned

According to the company's disclosure and subsequent reports, the Phase I facility is designed to manufacture advanced lithium-ion cells across multiple chemistries and form factors:

• NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) cells, which offer higher energy density and are typically used in electric two-wheelers and cars where range and weight matter;
• LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cells, which are cheaper, more thermally stable and longer-lived, and are increasingly the default for stationary energy storage and many commercial vehicles.

Reports describe production lines for both cylindrical and prismatic formats, allowing EESL to serve both mobility customers and grid or behind-the-meter storage projects. The plant has been planned to scale to 12 GWh in a later phase.

Exide had earlier told investors that EESL had achieved full equipment delivery and utility operationalisation across all four production lines at the Bengaluru site, with sample cells already being dispatched to prospective customers ahead of commercial revenue, which management has guided for the third quarter of FY27.

The money behind it

The project has required sustained capital from the parent. Exide Industries has funded EESL through repeated equity infusions; following an investment on 18 August 2026, its cumulative investment in the subsidiary stood at about ₹5,102 crore. The board has also approved up to ₹1,400 crore of further investment for FY27 to support Phase I commissioning.

Markets welcomed the milestone: Exide Industries' shares rose after the filing, with the stock up around 17% for the year to date according to Upstox.

Why cell manufacturing is the hard part

India has built a large battery-pack assembly industry over the past five years, driven by electric two- and three-wheelers and, more recently, grid storage tenders. But the cell — the electrochemical heart of a battery — has remained overwhelmingly imported, mostly from China. That leaves Indian EV makers and storage developers exposed to price swings, supply disruptions and trade policy decisions made elsewhere.

Making cells is far harder than assembling packs. It requires precise electrode coating, controlled dry rooms, formation and ageing processes that can take weeks, and quality control good enough to deliver consistent performance across millions of units. Yield — the share of cells that come off the line meeting specification — often determines whether a gigafactory makes or loses money, and it typically takes time to climb after commissioning.

That is why Phase I commissioning is a milestone rather than a finish line. The real tests over the next several quarters will be yield, customer qualification (automotive customers in particular run long validation cycles) and cost competitiveness against imported cells.

Where this fits in India's battery push

The government's Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries set a target of 50 GWh of domestic cell capacity, and several large groups — including Reliance, Ola Electric and Amara Raja — are building or ramping plants. EESL's commissioning adds a significant, independent player that already has deep relationships with Indian automakers through its lead-acid business.

The multi-chemistry approach is strategically important. India's demand is split between mobility, where NMC still has a role in performance-sensitive vehicles, and stationary storage, where LFP dominates. Recent policy moves — including proposals to mandate battery storage alongside new solar and wind projects — are expected to push storage demand sharply higher, which could make LFP output the faster-growing line.

Chemistry choices, explained

The decision to run both NMC and LFP lines is more than a product-catalogue detail. NMC cells pack more energy into less weight, which is why they have been favoured for vehicles where range and performance matter, but they rely on nickel and cobalt, both of which India imports and whose prices are volatile. LFP cells avoid cobalt and nickel altogether, tolerate heat better and last for more charge cycles, at the cost of lower energy density.

Globally, LFP has gained share rapidly in both electric vehicles and grid storage as its cost advantage has widened. By building for both chemistries and for both cylindrical and prismatic formats from the first phase, EESL keeps the flexibility to follow demand rather than betting the plant on a single segment — an important hedge for a first-generation Indian cell maker still finding its customers.

What to watch next

• Commercial revenue: whether EESL meets its guidance of revenue from Q3 FY27.
• Anchor customers: Exide has said it is in talks with leading two-wheeler makers for lithium battery supply; formal contracts would de-risk the ramp-up.
• Phase II: the timing and funding of the step to 12 GWh.
• Upstream materials: cathode, anode and electrolyte supply remains largely imported, so the value added in India will depend on how quickly local materials suppliers emerge.

For India's energy transition, domestic cells are foundational. Every gigawatt-hour of cells made at home reduces exposure to a single-country supply chain and keeps more of the value — and the engineering know-how — inside the country. Exide's Bengaluru plant is now one of the facilities that will show whether that ambition can be executed at scale.

Sources

• Mercom India — Exide Commissions Phase I of 6 GWh Lithium-ion Cell Plant: https://mercomindia.com/exide-commissions-phase-i-of-6-gwh-lithium-ion-cell-plant
• BusinessToday — Exide Industries shares rise after subsidiary commissions Phase-I of lithium-ion cell facility: https://www.businesstoday.in/markets/stocks/story/exide-industries-shares-rise-after-subsidiary-commissions-phase-i-of-lithium-ion-cell-facility-557436-2026-09-24
• Free Press Journal — Exide Energy Solutions commissions 6 GWh lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility: https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/exide-energy-solutions-commissions-6-gwh-lithium-ion-cell-manufacturing-facility
• Upstox — Exide Industries arm commissions first phase of lithium-ion cell facility: https://upstox.com/news/market-news/stocks/exide-industries-arm-commissions-first-phase-of-lithium-ion-cell-mfg-facility-shares-gain-17-ytd/article-200765/
• Angel One — Exide Industries share price surges on Phase I commissioning: https://www.angelone.in/news/stocks/exide-industries-share-price-surges-completes-commissioning-phase-i-of-lithium-ion-cell-facility
• Sahi — Exide Industries approves ₹1,400 crore investment for FY27: https://www.sahi.com/news/exide-industries-approves-1-400-crore-investment-for-fy27-bengaluru-plant-revenue-near-61-PE1_CORPO
• Power Peak Digest — Exide Industries adds ₹200 crore to Exide Energy Solutions: https://powerpeakdigest.com/exide-industries-invests-rs-200-crore-eesl/
• Autocar Professional — Exide in talks with two leading 2W OEMs to supply lithium batteries: https://www.autocarpro.in/news/exide-in-talks-with-two-leading-2w-oems-to-supply-lithium-batteries-126607