Indian battery component makers face up to 61% cost disadvantage against imports: Report

New Delhi: Indian battery component makers are grappling with a higher input costs of up to 60 per cent compared to importers of similar products, a report by the industry body Netzero Energy Transition Alliance and others said.

Indian battery component manufacturers are contending with a sharp cost disadvantage, producing cathode and anode materials, electrolytes, separators, and copper foil at costs 18 per cent to 61 per cent higher than those of imported equivalents, said the report released earlier this week.

The report, prepared by Netzero Energy Transition Alliance (NETRA) in collaboration with ARCI, CSIR-NCL, IIT Madras, and Deloitte, was launched by the Ministry of Heavy Industries and draws on data from more than 20 Indian firms.


The report comes at a time when the government is considering a dedicated scheme to support battery component makers in the country.

The study, 'Accelerating India's ACC Component Manufacturing Ecosystem', points to China's near-total dominance in global battery component supplies.

"The cost data in this report comes from Indian companies that are building or planning these plants, and it shows that the gap has a different cause in each component," said Debi Prasad Dash, Co-Founder and Executive Director, NETRA.

Rahul Walawalkar, Founder and President, NETRA, said: "New entrants face high scrap rates for five to six years, and cell makers take 18 to 24 months to qualify a supplier. Decisions taken by March 2027 will decide whether the cell plants coming online by March 2029 can buy qualified materials made in India. We offer this evidence with options, not a single demand."

Battery cell components account for roughly 76 per cent of cell manufacturing costs.

India's battery demand is projected to jump from about 33 GWh in 2025 to 236 GWh in 2032 and close to 600 GWh by 2037.

Yet, current Indian capacity covers less than 3 per cent of the cathode, anode, and electrolyte requirements projected for 2032, and there is no known domestic production of separators or battery-grade copper foil, the report said.

To close the cost and capacity gaps, the report proposes three incentive options for the government: a 25 per cent capital subsidy plus a sales-linked operating incentive offsetting about 30 per cent of each component's cost gap (ranging from 5 per cent to 18 per cent by component); an operating incentive alone, covering about 60 per cent of the gap (11 per cent to 37 per cent by component) for five to seven years; or a 50 per cent capital subsidy released alongside the investor's own spending, in line with the Semicon India programme.