Reliance, Mahindra, Ola Electric among bidders for the Indian Govt’s $2.4 billion PLI battery scheme

Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, automakers Mahindra and Mahindra, and Softbank Group-backed Ola Electric have submitted bids under India’s Rs 18000 crore ($2.4 billion) Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for battery manufacturing in India.

Engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, Hyundai Global Motors, battery makers Amara Raja and Exide are also among the ten companies that have submitted the bids, India’s Ministry of Heavy Industries reported.

Last year, India finalized an incentive program to encourage firms to invest in manufacturing batteries within the country as it seeks to establish a domestic supply chain for clean transportation and build storage for renewable energy.

The Indian government wishes to set up a total of 50 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery storage capacity over five years. The country expects to attract a direct investment of about $6 billion to build its battery production industry.

In order to qualify for the government’s incentives, companies need to set up at least 5 GWh of storage capacity, and the selected firms would be required to set up the manufacturing facility with a span of two years. After that, the incentive will be paid out over five years on the sale of batteries manufactured within the country.