India’s first lithium cell manufacturing facility was inaugurated today by the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

The cell manufacturing facility has been set up by Chennai-based Munoth Industries Limited at the cost of Rs. 165 crores. The facility is located in one of the two Electronics Manufacturing Clusters set up in Tirupati.

The installed capacity of the plant at present is 270 Mwh and can produce 20,000 cells of 10Ah capacity daily. These cells are used in power banks and this capacity is around 60 percent of India’s present requirement.

As per reports, after the initial production, the facility will also start producing cells for other consumer electronics like Mobile Phones, hearable and wearable devices.

Talking about the vision behind the setting up of the plant, Chandrasekhar said “the inauguration of this plant will be a step in the direction of realizing Prime Minister Modi’s vision of making India the global hub of electronic manufacturing.”

Currently, India imports complete requirements of lithium-ion cells primarily from China, South Korea, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

During his trip to the state, the minister for electronics and information technology will also be visiting the Dixon Technologies and United Telelinks facilities located in the two EMCs. 

Image courtesy: PTI