<article><p class="lead">Indian conglomerate Tata's subsidiary Tata Agaratas Energy Storage Solutions has signed an initial agreement with the Gujarat state government to set up a lithium-ion (li-ion) battery manufacturing plant.</p><p>Tata Agaratas signed an initial agreement with the Gujarat state government on 2 June for a 20GWh li-ion battery plant at an investment of 130bn rupees ($1.57bn) in the first phase, which the government described as the first-ever lithium ion cell plant in India.</p><p>Details about the construction schedule of the gigafactory are unknown. The li-ion plant will enable Gujarat to boost production of electric vehicles (EVs) to achieve its aim of 100pc of automotive sales to comprise EVs by 2030, and reducing carbon emissions by 50pc by 2030, the state government said.</p><p>The Indian federal government plans for EVs to account for 30pc of the country's automotive sales by 2030. India needs to develop a robust battery supply chain to meet this ambitious target. It currently relies heavily on imports of li-ion cells from China, Japan and South Korea. India found its <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2418643">first big deposit of lithium in Reasi</a>, in Jammu and Kashmir in February.</p><p>The government in March selected four firms to set up <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2315569">50GW of battery production capacity</a> under the production-linked incentive scheme for advanced chemistry cell battery storage, in a bid to become self-reliant in battery manufacturing.</p><p>There is also an increasing number of battery material manufacturing and testing facilities in the country. Indian chemical manufacturer Epsilon Advanced Materials (EAMPL) and Japanese research firm KRI are planning a <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2456118">100GWh battery materials testing facility in India</a>, the former told <i>Argus</i> earlier this month. EAMPL signed an initial agreement with the Karnataka state government in November last year to invest Rs90bn to establish battery material manufacturing plants over a span of 10 years.</p><p class="bylines">By Pranav Joshi</p></article>
