Exide to double output in 3 years

Auto and industrial battery maker Exide Industries will invest Rs 450 crore in the next three years to double its capacity.

Addressing a press conference, S B Ganguly, executive chairman and chief executive officer, said the company intends to double its production of automotive batteries, two-wheeler batteries and batteries for industrial applications in phases by 2010.

Currently, Exide produces six million automotive batteries, eight million two-wheeler batteries and one billion amp hours of batteries for industrial applications. The capacity expansion would be in all its plants during FY08 with an initial infusion of Rs 150 crore.

The company would decide on the next phase of investments after gauging the market conditions.

The three-year target setby the company will be the same as what the company had achieved in he past 25 years, said Ganguly, who will step down after 13 years at the helm and assume the role of chairman emeritus from next month.

Rajesh Kapadia will be the non-executive chairman, T V Ramanathan the new chief executive officer and managing director and A K Mukherjee will be the director - finance.

In the last 13 years, Exide's turnover grew almost 10 times, from Rs 238 crore Rs 2,382.68 crore. Ganguly became chairman and managing director in 1993 after the Rahejas took over and was appointed executive chairman and chief executive officer in 2000.

Commenting on the 54 per cent growth in the company's profits to Rs 155 crore in FY07, Ganguly said the company was the sole and exclusive supplier to Tata Motors and Toyota.

It has exclusive arrangements with Honda Civic, Maruti Swift diesel, Zen Estilo and Hyundai Verna. The company has received approval for initial supplies to Logan from the Mahindra Renault stable.

Ramanathan said Exide was looking at 15 per cent market share in the replacement market for tractor batteries in the next three years. At present, Exide enjoys 8 per cent market share in the segment with 1.50 lakh units production.

In the industrial applications segment, Exide is hoping to grab a significant share from the Railways. Exide is also looking at opportunities to supply batteries for telecom towers.

The company is not planning to set up a plant in Uttaranchal immediately. Exide has plants in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Maharashtra.

The company is exploring technical joint venture opportunities in Australia and Germany.