Headquartered in Kolkata, Exide Industries Ltd manufactures lead acid storage batteries and inverters. The company manufactures lead acid storage batteries from 2.5 Ampere-hour (Ah) to 20,200 Ampere-hour. The products manufactured by the company include automotive batteries, industrial batteries and submarine batteries. The company sells its products under EXIDE, SF, SONIC and Standard Furukawa Brands. In the international market, the products are sold under DYNEX, INDEX and SONIC brands.
Exide Industries has 10 factories strategically located all over India out of which 7 factories are dedicated to batteries manufacturing and the other 3 factories manufacture Home UPS Systems. The company has a R&D facility at Kolkata, West Bengal. Exide has subsidiaries in the UK, Singapore and Sri Lanka and its exports span 60 countries across six continents.
Exide Industries Ltd was incorporated on January 31, 1947 as Associated Battery Makers (Eastern) Ltd to purchase all or any of the assets of the business of manufacturers, buyers and sellers of and dealers in and repairers of electrical and chemical appliances and goods carried on by the Chloride Electric Storage Company (India) Ltd in India. In theyear 1947, the company incorporated Chloride International Ltd. In the year 1969, the company set up their second factory at Chinchwad, Pune.
In August 2, 1972, the name of the company was changed to Chloride India Ltd. In the year 1976, they established R&D centre at Kolkata. In the year 1981, the company set up third factory at Haldia, West Bengal. In October 12, 1988, the name of the company was again changed to Chloride Industries Ltd.
In the year 1994, the company made a technical collaboration with Shin Kobe Electric Machinery Co. Ltd. of Japan, a subsidiary of the Hitachi Group. In August 25, 1995, the company changed their name to Exide Industries Ltd. In the year 1997, the company set up their fourth factory at Hosur, Tamil Nadu.
In the year 1998, the company acquired the industrial/ manufacturing units of Standard Batteries Ltd located at Taloja & Kanjurmarg (Maharashtra), Guindy (Tamilnadu) and plant at Ahmednagar (Maharashtra) from Cosepa Fiscal Industries Ltd as a going concern. In the year 1999, they acquired 51% shareholding in Caldyne Automatics Ltd. In the year 2000, the company acquired 100% stake in Chloride Batteries S E Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore and 49% stake in Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Ltd, Sri Lanka.
In the year 2003, the company commissioned a plant at Bawal, Haryana. Also, they formed a new joint venture in UK, ESPEX Batteries Ltd, with 51% holding. In the year 2004, Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Ltd, Sri Lanka became a subsidiary consequent to acquiring further 12.50% equity holding. In the year 2005, the company made investment in 50% shareholding of ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Ltd.
In the year 2007, Caldyne Automatics Ltd became 100% subsidiary consequent to acquiring the balance 49% shareholding. They made investment with 26% shareholding in CEIL Motive Power Pty Ltd, a joint venture in Australia. Also, they acquired 100% stake in Tandon Metals Ltd. In the year 2008, the company acquired 51% stake in Lead Age Alloys India Ltd.
During the year 2008-09, the company received an order for 5000 batteries for the Singapore Taxi market amidst tough competition. Honda Japan selected the company as an exclusive supplier initially for 2 years for VRLA MC battery. The company entered into a technical collaboration with Changxing Noble Power Sourcing Co. Ltd., China for manufacture of Deep Cycling E-bike batteries for electric bicycles and scooters. During the year 2009-10, the company divested their 26% shareholding in Ceil Motive Power Pty Ltd, Australia (as associate company).
In August 12, 2010, the company entered into an agreement for acquisition of 22,93,200 equity shares of Leadage Alloys India Ltd representing 49% of the shares in the said company. The Company held 51% of the shares in Leadage Alloys India Ltd and with this acquisition Leadage Alloys India Ltd will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Exide Industries Ltd.
In January 2012, the company entered into technical collaboration and assistance agreements with East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc. USA. Under these agreements, East Penn will provide technical assistance and support for the manufacture of automotive, motive power, standby, telecom, UPS, solar and traction batteries for Exide's various plants in India. This technical assistance will include a wide range of activities including the enhancement of processes for manufacturing, designs, quality control, and procurement.
In February 2013, Exide Industries entered into a new Technical License and Assistance Agreement with Shin Kobe Electric Machinery Co. Ltd., Japan (a Hitachi group company) to implement new manufacturing processes for automotive batteries. Under this agreement, Shin-Kobe Electric Machinery Co. Ltd., Japan, will be providing technology and extensive technical support and assistance to manufacture quality automotive batteries at various plants of Exide Industries. This new technology would enable Exide Industries to not only manufacture superior batteries but is also expected to result in cost reduction.
During 2013, Exide Industries acquired the balance 50% shares in ING Vysya Life Insurance. In 2014, ING Vysya Life Insurance was renamed as Exide Life Insurance.
Two of Exide's wholly owned subsidiaries Chloride Metals and Chloride Alloys, engaged in the business of recycling old batteries and lead smelting were merged into one single corporate entity called Chloride Metals Ltd. The merger came into effect from 1 March 2016.
On 24 June 2016, Exide Industries launched Solarblitz range of batteries in Lucknow targeted at the solar markets of rural India where power cuts are frequent and prolonged and people are increasingly looking at an alternative solution to their power needs. Exide Solarblitz range of batteries are specially designed for solar application.
A new state-of-the-art battery making plant at the Haldia, West Bengal factory of Exide Industries Ltd was inaugurated on 2 January 2017. Built in Technical Collaboration with East Penn Manufacturing Company of the USA, at a capital investment of Rs 700 crore, the new plant will use the latest 'Punched Grid Technology' to manufacture the most technically advanced Lead Acid Storage Batteries in the country.
During the year FY 2016-17, Exide Industries signed a technology co-operation agreement for the design and manufacture of Lithium Ion' family of products with Chaowei Group, a large, renowned company of China. With bulk energy storage being a major priority in the country, Exide Industries signed two technical collaboration agreements during the year with EPM for Ultra Battery Technology for Stationary Industrial Applications viz., integration of a lead acid battery with an Ultra Capacitor and with Smart Storage Pty Ltd (ECoult, Australia), a hundred percent subsidiary of EPM, for technology cooperation and joint marketing agreement for testing and study of energy storage solutions centered on Ultra Battery Technology and indigenisation of Storage Blocks.
On 19 May 2017, Exide Industries entered into a settlement agreement with US based Exide Technologies, USA whereby the US company shall forever waive any right or claim to the ownership and/or use of EXIDE mark in India.
On 4 January 2018, Exide Industries announced the launch of a new range of automotive batteries in the Indian market branded Epiq. The battery comes with a 6-year warranty - the highest in the Indian market. While the Epiq will be manufactured in Exide's cutting edge factories across the country, it will be sold exclusively through its national network of 1,500 premium Exide Care outlets.
In 2018, the company entered into technical collaboration with Moura, Brazil. During the year, the company also entered into technical collaboration with Furukawa, Japan for Ultra Battery (Auto).
The Company had 8 subsidiaries and 2 associate companies as on March 31, 2022. During the year under 2021-22, Company floated one wholly-owned subsidiary company viz. Exide Energy Solutions Limited (EESL), to set up a new Li-ion cell manufacturing facility in India. It divested the entire equity shareholding in Exide Life Insurance Company Limited (ELI), erstwhile a material wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, by way of sale to HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited, for an aggregate consideration of Rs. 6,687 crore. Hence, Exide Life Insurance Company Limited ceased to be a subsidiary of Company w.e.f January 01, 2022. Greenyana, one of
the associate companies, was formed to procure energy from captive solar power plants to be set up in the state of Haryana. The r Company sold entire equity shareholding in Greenyana in favour of the holding company of Greenyana for a consideration of Rs 5.25 Crore. Hence, it ceased to be an associate company w.e.f. December 30, 2021. During the year 2021-22, Company invested around
Rs. 85 crore in Nexcharge to meet its funding requirements, thereby increasing its stake to 84.90%.
In FY 2021-22, the Company introduced first lithium-ion based home power back-up system branded as Exide Integra. Several new models, including Maruti Suzuki's new Baleno, Hyundai's Alcazar and MG Motor's Astor were introduced using Exide batteries. Also, with the assistance of Brazilian collaborators, Moura Batteries, it introduced the first M3 level compatible EFB' battery for use in Volkswagen and Skoda's most strictly emission-controlled cars. For the first time, EPM started sourcing significant quantities of car batteries from the Company for sale in United States. Its SF division, working with Furukawa Battery Company, introduced a series of Intermediate Start Stop (ISS)' batteries both in the OEM and trade market.
In 2023, the Company relaunched popular inverters including, Magic, Star and GQP, featuring innovative technology for enhanced power backup. Exide NXT+ launched in FY 2022-23 ensured seamless power supply for critical needs. It launched Exide SUNDAY Rooftop Solar Solutions (RTSS), offering 5-year comprehensive warranty. It launched traction batteries with advanced technologies, which have 50% extra life-cycle and warrantied life of 3 years. It commissioned AGM VRLA batteries for passenger vehicles. 400 KWH lead-acid storage system was installed and commissioned in Kolkata city for a micro-grid duty cycle.
During 2022-23, Chloride Power Systems & Solutions Limited (CPSSL), the erstwhile wholly owned subsidiary, merged with Company effective on 29th March 2023. The Company acquired Rs 57 crore in the equity share capital of Chloride Metals Limited (CML) for setting up a greenfield project at SUPA, Maharashtra. On 4th November 2022, Nexcharge bought back the entire paid-up and issued equity shares held by 'Leclanche S.A.', which therefore became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and as a result, the name of the Company was changed from Exide Leclanche Energy Private Limited to Exide Energy Private Limited w.e.f. 4th January 2023.