Munouth’s 270 MWh facility in Andhra Pradesh will start to export a million lithium cells every month to Anker as part of a six-month long deal. The company is in the process of setting up additional testing equipment and increasing its capacity, calling it a big win for the nascent battery manufacturing industry in India.
“The newly incorporated battery production plant will supply a million lithium cells to a leading power bank brand in the US. So far, this customer was serviced by Chinese suppliers. This is a direct fall out of the 25% tariff imposed by the US on China for lithium cells for consumer electronics from 2026,” Jaswant Munouth, vice chairman, Munouth Industries Limited told ET.
Munouth said that supplies will start from the second quarter of 2025, adding that the order will help infuse confidence among local brands to start sourcing batteries locally from India. The Andhra-Pradesh based facility currently has a capacity to produce 5 lakh cells a month. Following the MoU, Munouth plans to increase its capacity by five-fold to meet demand for 20 lakh cells a month.
The executive said that customers of top Chinese suppliers are now eyeing the India market to offset the cost disabilities arising from high duties imposed on imports from China.“Customers of our collaborator, which is among the top three lithium ion suppliers from China, wanted to check if India can supply lithium-ion cells because 25% is too high a tariff, and Donald Trump is threatening to increase it to 35%. That is why they have started looking at non-Chinese suppliers,” Munouth said.The critical component is expected to be included in the government’s upcoming financial support package for electronics components. Manufacturers expect a host of capital and operational support as part of the scheme. A CII report had highlighted a 13-15% cost disability in making lithium-ion cells in India as compared to China and Vietnam.
According to India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), India is currently importing an average of 1.5 million lithium-cells of 10,000 mAh capacity from China for use in digital applications every month, indicating an urgent need to localise the component.
India’s nascent lithium cell industry which includes Munouth, Kolkata-based Exide, and Japanese battery giant ATL has also called for an imposition of minimum import price of $1.25 on 1,000-5,000 mAh cells, and $1.75 per unit on 5,000mAh and above cells, following import of sub-standard cells in India which has affected competitiveness among local players.
Industry executives said the US-China trade war will result in further such wins for the growing electronics industry in India. iPhone-maker Apple has made the largest shift yet, moving around 15% of its global iPhone production to India, which is expected to grow to 25% by 2026, according to a Jeffries report.
