Exide Industries eyes export jump after US and EU trade deals

Kolkata: Storage battery major Exide Industries is expecting Rs 500 crore jump in exports following the back-to-back US trade and EU deals, said managing director Avik Roy while speaking to reporters here.

The company's exports declined in the current fiscal, but it is now hoping for a rebound. The company set a target of Rs 25,000 crore turnover by 2030, once its lithium-ion battery subsidiary EESL becomes fully operational. According to Roy, exports now account for around 5-7% of the company's turnover, and the rest is domestic sales.

"Our exports were 8-9% of turnover earlier; then they dipped, but we are hoping to touch the earlier level in the next fiscal," he added. The company now exports to 60 countries. Roy pointed out that in the next fiscal, the auto replacement market would grow in double digits, while OEM would be strong. "In the first half of this fiscal, OEM growth was slow," he added.


According to him, following the GST slash, automobile sales went up considerably, which pushed OEM battery demand.

EESL MD and CEO Pravin Saraf said that for 4-wheelers it is working with Hyundai, and to start with, it would come out with 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler batteries. "By April next year, samples would be given to manufacturers," he added. Incidentally, Exide is pumping in Rs 4,800 crore this fiscal into EESL, and next fiscal it would be Rs 1,400 crore.