Kolkata, July 10 -- Exide Industries has set a Rs 20,000 crore revenue target for its core lead-acid battery business to be achieved by FY 28. Also, despite the geopolitical uncertainties, particularly in West Asia, which kept commodity and energy prices volatile, Avik Roy, Managing Director and CEO of Exide Industries Ltd, said the company had achieved standalone revenue of Rs 17,269 crore, registering year-on-year growth of 4.1% in FY 2025-26.
"As I look back on FY 2025-26, I would describe it as a year that tested our resilience and adaptability. We operated in an environment marked by geopolitical uncertainty, fluctuations in commodity prices and currencies, evolving battery technologies and uneven demand across sectors. Despite these headwinds, the company delivered a stable and resilient performance," said Roy at the 79th Annual General Meeting.
Exide Industries also expects its Bengaluru lithium-ion cell manufacturing plant to begin generating revenue from the third quarter of the current fiscal, with supplies of domestically manufactured battery cells to EVs and energy storage systems set to commence. The company has already invested around Rs 4,800 crore in the Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) manufacturing facility and plans to invest an additional Rs 1,400 crore during the current fiscal to complete the first phase of the project, Roy said. Industry estimates project domestic demand for lithium-ion cells to rise to around 130 GWh by 2030, of which nearly 100 GWh is expected to come from electric vehicles, he said.
Roy mentioned that the Automotive OEM business recorded strong double-digit growth during the year, with demand momentum accelerating significantly in the second half following the rollout of GST 2.0. "We were the partner of choice for OEMs, as evidenced by our 100% share of business across multiple new vehicle launches," he said.
He added that the Home UPS and Battery business delivered high single-digit growth during the year. "While demand was impacted in the early part of the year by an extended monsoon and temporary GST-related purchase deferrals, momentum improved significantly in the second half," he said.
Looking ahead to FY 2026-27, the company sees encouraging opportunities across automotive OEM, automotive replacement, industrial UPS, railways, solar, data centres and infrastructure. Meanwhile, West Bengal currently contributes 50 percent of Exide's business with the company planning to explore further investments in the state.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.