Exide Industries is fundamentally a bet that the lead-acid battery still has decades of life left in it. Founded in 1946 and profitable ever since, the company built a near-eight-decade dominance by making the widest range of these batteries on earth - from tiny 2.5Ah cells to submarine-sized 20,200Ah units - and then, instead of retreating as the world talked about lithium, it doubled down with a "last-man-standing" mindset while quietly building a lithium-ion gigafactory of its own. The recurring pattern is circular: it sells a battery, buys back the dead one, recycles the lead, and makes a new battery - a loop that cuts costs, locks in customers, and funds the next venture. # Business segments Two engines, one old and one new - a lead-acid cash cow that touches every vehicle and home, and a lithium-ion bet under construction that aims to power the electric vehicles those same customers will buy next. ## 1. Lead-acid batteries: the circular cash engine **A 92% core business that makes money on every battery sold, then makes money again by recovering the lead from the old one - all while competitors walk away.** - **Widest range in the world** - the company makes lead-acid batteries from 2.5Ah to 20,200Ah, covering everything from motorcycles to naval submarines, which means no single customer or end-market can destabilise the whole business. - **Replacement demand is built-in** - in the automotive aftermarket, a battery sold to a carmaker today becomes a replacement sale roughly three years later, so the installed base of vehicles creates a recurring revenue stream that lags but never disappears. - **Half its lead comes from its own recycler** - subsidiary Chloride Metals runs three plants with 346 KMT of refining capacity and supplied about 50% of Exide's lead needs in FY26, insulating the company from the full swing of London Metal Exchange prices. - **Old batteries are bought back, not discarded** - end-of-life batteries are recovered through pricing mechanisms, buyback schemes, and auctions tailored to dealers, institutions, and OEMs, so nearly 79% of all lead used comes from recycled inputs. ## 2. Lithium-ion cell manufacturing: the greenfield bet **A 12 GWh gigafactory being built from scratch with a Chinese technology partner, already lined up to supply Hyundai's electric cars in India - a business that does not yet sell but has already locked in its first big customer.** - **Turnkey plant, not a science experiment** - the Bengaluru gigafactory is being built with SVOLT Energy Technology of China, which has roughly 500 lithium-ion R&D experts and is delivering the plant on a turnkey basis, compressing the time to stabilisation. - **Two chemistries, multiple shapes** - the factory is designed for both LFP and NMC chemistries in cylindrical and prismatic form factors, so it can serve electric vehicles and stationary storage from the same site. - **Hyundai signed on before the first cell shipped** - a binding term sheet with Hyundai Motor India makes EESL a named supplier of cells and packs for its Indian electric vehicles, a process that takes 1.5 to 2 years of homologation and gives Exide a head start over anyone starting now. - **Just-in-time beats importing from China** - by manufacturing locally, EESL can offer OEMs delivery on demand rather than forcing them to hold weeks of inventory and working capital on battery imports. - **Rs. 4,802 crore already committed** - the parent has funded the subsidiary entirely through equity, with cumulative investment reaching that figure by March 2026, so the project carries no debt on its own books. # Group structure and partners **A listed parent with two wholly owned subsidiaries - one that recycles lead, one that makes lithium cells - plus a web of technology partners that supply the recipes for both chemistries.** - **Chloride Metals Limited** is the recycling arm, operating three lead plants in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and West Bengal with 346 KMT of refining capacity, acquired in 1998 and now supplying half the parent's lead. - **Exide Energy Solutions Limited** houses the entire lithium-ion play - cells from the Bengaluru gigafactory and modules and packs from a 1.5 GWh facility in Prantij, Gujarat, which was originally built under a joint venture with Switzerland's Leclanché and later folded in. - **SVOLT Energy Technology Co. Ltd** is the turnkey partner for lithium-ion cell manufacturing, bringing the process know-how and supply-chain access that let EESL start with proven technology rather than inventing it. - **East Penn Manufacturing (USA)** provides technology for the advanced AGM lead-acid batteries used in start-stop and ADAS-equipped vehicles, extending the lead-acid franchise into higher-value automotive applications. - **Two captive solar SPVs** - a 26% stake in Clean Max Arcadia (14.85 MWp for the Bawal factory) and a 26% stake in Clean Max Beta (17 MWp for the Bengaluru gigafactory) - lock in clean power at predictable costs.