Omega Seiki to invest Rs8 billion in EV parts plants in India

Omega Seiki Mobility Pvt. will invest Rs8 billion ($98.1 million) to build two facilities in India to manufacture electric vehicle components such as batteries and power trains.

The New Delhi-based company has tied up with startup iM3NY, which manufactures lithium-ion cells in New York, to produce batteries in the South Asian nation, it said in a statement on Sunday. Omega, founded in 2018, has also entered a join venture with Jae Sung Tech Korea to make electric vehicle power trains locally, it said.

The demand for lithium-ion batteries in India will increase from 3 gigawatt-hour currently to 20 gigawatt-hour by 2030, consultancy Arthur D. Little estimates, making it crucial to ramp up local cell manufacturing capacity. India imports 70 per cent of its lithium-ion cell requirement from China and Hong Kong due to lack of local production.

Omega’s battery facility in the western state of Maharashtra will have a capacity of 0.5 gigawatt initially and scale up to 2 gigawatt, the company said. Its power train plant in Haryana will produce 10,000 units in 2024 and 100,000 by the fourth year, it said.