Exide buys out lead smelter - valve regulated lead acid battery
To hedge against rising lead costs, the Exide industry has fallen behind --
Integrate yourself by acquiring a lead smelter of Rs 25.
Kolkata: to hedge against rising lead costs, Exide Industries, India's largest car and industrial battery maker, is lagging behind --
Integrate yourself by acquiring a lead smelter of Rs 25.
"As part of our business plan to enter lead smelting and recycling in India, we acquired a local smelter.
To this end, we have invested Rs 25, "p k Kataky, director of Exide
Cars and DNA.
However, he did not disclose the name or other details of the smelter.
However, industry insiders have suggested that the plant may be located near Pune, and the deal may be concluded by this month --end.
The move will help the company not only reduce its reliance on imported lead, but also to collect waste batteries in compliance with the regulations on battery manufacturing and handling.
Lead accounts for nearly 70% of the company's investment costs.
Rs 2,400 crore lead-acid battery manufacturers have traditionally relied on local smelters and imports to meet their LEAD requirements.
It consumes about 1,20, 000 tons of lead per year.
Over the past few years, the company has had to deal with soaring metal prices, which soared four years ago from $435 a tonne to $3,000 a tonne today.
In fact, the price has risen by 30-
There are 35% people in the past few months alone.
This has forced it to raise prices over the past year.
T v Ramanathan, general manager and CEO of Exide, said, "in the case of high fluctuations in lead prices, owning shares in local smelters will be an important step in increasing dependence on domestic sources of recycled lead.
He added: "The economy of building a high energy cost smelter is still cheaper than importing the entire lead.
Exide currently imports lead from Australia, China and South Korea.
According to the regulations, the establishment of smelters will also help Exide to strengthen the collection of waste batteries.
Kakaty said, "the old batteries were sent to the smelters, and the smelters passed lead on to the battery manufacturers.
Direct access to smelting will help us increase our commitment to protecting the environment by using recycled materials as part of our corporate social responsibility program.
"According to the regulations, 75% of the batteries sold should be recovered by the company.
But industry insiders say the figure is well below regulatory targets as middlemen offer lucrative prices.
It is said that Exide can only collect 25% of used batteries at present.
Organized car battery market totals Rs 4,000 and market leader Exide has a 79% market share in OE and a 70% share in the replacement battery category.
It has a 36% market share in the entire automotive battery market, including almost as large an unorganized market.