Panasonic is anticipated to establish a battery manufacturing facility in India as part of the government's production-linked incentive (PLI) program for ACC battery storage. According to top corporate officials, a high-level delegation from the Japanese company met with senior government officials during the first week of this month.

 

Amitabh Kant, the CEO of Niti Aayog and the G20 Sherpa, and Kamran Rizvi, the secretary for heavy industries, met Kazuo Tadanobu, the president and chief executive officer of Panasonic Energy, along with other Japanese employees of Panasonic. At the meeting was also Manish Sharma, chairman of Panasonic Life Solutions in India. The business has alerted the Indian government of its intentions to look at setting up a battery manufacturing facility there.

Panasonic India has declined to comment on the matter. However, after recent developments, it is expected that the Japanese company is now “coming close to making substantial investments” in India with the setting up of the battery manufacturing plant.

 

Hyundai Global Motors, one of the four companies chosen for the government's Rs 18,100 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) plan for ACC battery storage, recently withdrew from the program. It is hoped that Panasonic will now accept the offer made by Hyundai Global Motors.

 

There has been no confirmation of this and it needs to be approved at the highest echelons of government. Major corporations including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and the Volkswagen group are among those that the Panasonic battery plant hopes to provide batteries to. This occurs at a time when these businesses are growing their electric fleet and may turn into significant buyers of Panasonic batteries.

 

Panasonic is one of the biggest suppliers of batteries to Tesla.