Exide Industries expects to regain pre-covid margin in 1-2 years

Storage battery major Exide Industries Ltd on Tuesday said it expects to regain its pre-covid EBITDA margin of 13-14 per cent in the next one to two years.

The company's current EBITDA margin is 10.6 per cent, as input costs have remained erratic.

"We are seeing a revamp in demand after Covid and expecting both automotive and industrial verticals will do well. However, it will take another one to two years to get back to the pre-covid level of margin," Exide Industries MD and CEO Subir Chakraborty said.

Speaking about the company's Rs 6,000 crore 12GW lithium-ion cell manufacturing plant near Bangalore, Chakraborty said it is progressing well.

He said the company remains unperturbed about the emerging alternative technologies, given the growth of the storage battery market and that all technologies will be required.

Commercial production in the Bangalore plant will begin in 2024-25, attracting an estimated capex of Rs 4,000 crore.

Chakraborty said the company has received very lucrative incentives from the Karnataka government, which ranged between 18 and 20 per cent of the capex. However, the company could not qualify for the PLI scheme.

He also said that the anti-dumping by GCC countries on batteries will have a minor impact on the company. Currently, exports account for 8 per cent of total revenue and the company will explore newer markets to increase it to double digits in the near future.

Exide Industries has applied for regulatory approvals for the merger of its wholly-owned subsidiary Exide Energy Pvt Ltd (EEPL) with Exide Energy Solutions (EESL).

The merger is expected to be completed shortly, officials said.

EEPL has a 1.5GW fully automated lithium-ion battery packs and modules manufacturing plant at Prantij, Gujarat. EESL is the promoter of the lithium cell plant. The company aims to bring the lithium businesses under a single entity.

"We will continue to have the existing facility even after another module and pack facility in the new facility," Chakraborty said.

In the first quarter of the current financial year 2023-24, Exide's performance remained steady with sales growth of 4.2 per cent and EBITDA growth of 11.7 per cent.

"Our automation and cost optimisation initiatives are bearing fruit, thereby supporting enhanced levels of profitability. We will continue with innovations with new cutting-edge technology products," the executive said.