Two years after the three Japanese companies announced plans to set up the country’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant, Suzuki Motor Corporation, Toshiba Corporation and Denso Corporation have inked a Memorandum of Understanding proposing an investment of Rs 4,930 crore to the Gujarat government.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, between the Department of Industry of the government of Gujarat and the tripartite joint venture Automotive Electronics Power (AEPPL) of Japan.
In 2017, the three Japanese companies had come together and formed a new joint venture company – AEPPL – with an initial investment of 20 billion Japanese yen (Rs 1,300 crore). As per the MoU, AEPPL will make investments at Bacharaji in Gujarat in two phases. In the first phase, the construction manufacturing facilities for lithium-ion battery packs and modules, at a cost of Rs 1,250 crore, will be built by the end of 2020. The JV will generate employment for approximately 1,000 people.
On September 14, 2017, the foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe. According to the MoU signed today, AEPPL will invest Rs 3,715 crore in second phase for distribution and will produce 30 million cells per year in Gujarat by 2025.
The Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said that such industries have come up as a result of improved ease of doing business in Gujarat as well as export facilities and business-friendly policies of the state. He expressed confidence that AEPPL’s Gujarat plant will give the state and India a global reputation through lithium-ion battery production.
