Bhargava flags lack of local cell manufacturing

Maruti chairman says India's biggest roadblock to scaling up EVs is that no firm is producing battery cells in the country

- DEEPAK PATEL

Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava on Tuesday said India's biggest roadblock in scaling up electric vehicles (EVs) was the absence of local cell manufacturing, noting that no company was producing battery cells in the country and that building a plant cost nearly ₹20,000 crore, apart from securing scarce raw materials.

People are packaging cells and production is not taking place, according to him.

China overwhelmingly dominates the global battery ecosystem, with nearly 85 per cent of the world's cell production capacity, along with much of the processing of lithium and cobalt.

On the rare-earth magnet shortage due to restrictions imposed by China since April, he said: "I hear that the rare-earth magnet problem might get solved, but it was a warning signal."