Exide Batteries – A Power Solution Beyond Continents

S K Vaish
S K Vaish Regional Sales Manager Industrial-North, Exide Industries Ltd
S K Vaish
Regional Sales Manager
Industrial-North, Exide Industries Ltd

Exide batteries are exported all over the world under its various brand names. It has a huge dealer network in 46 countries spread across five continents, says S K Vaish, Regional Sales Manager, Industrial-North, Exide Industries Ltd, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

“Exide has also gone in for a massive drive to make its huge dealer network adopt digital payment mechanism. Exide has facilitated the process through tie ups with third parties like Eze Tap for point of sale payment acceptance machines and other payment gateways etc.”

Give us an overview of Exide Industries Ltd.

Exide Industries Ltd is the country’s largest manufacturer of lead acid storage batteries and power storage solutions provider. With seven international standard factories spread across the nation for producing batteries, the company offers one of the widest ranges of batteries for every conceivable application in automotive as well as industrial segments. Exide also has manufacturing facilities in Sri Lanka and does business globally through its subsidiaries and international affiliates.

Exide’s products are sold globally, particularly in developed markets like Australia, Japan and Western Europe, under its own brand names.

Exide’s strong brand pull, established in India for about a 100 years, is supplemented by its nationwide dealer network and a very strong Research and Development centre. With the help of its collaborators – Shin Kobe and Furukawa of Japan and East Penn of the US – Exide has consistently remained at the cutting edge of international battery technology and introduced various pioneering products and power storage solutions in the Indian and global markets. Exide’s vast product range, that includes everything from the smallest UPS batteries to the giant submarine batteries, find applications in automotive, two-wheelers, inverters, UPS, power, telecom and railways, among others. Exide is also present in the non-conventional energy business where it designs and integrates solar and wind power solutions for use in remote areas of the country.

Exide’s customer list includes some of the top-most international names in industries as diverse as automotive, earth moving equipment, telecom and UPS manufacturers.

Exide has recently branched out into the synergistic business of manufacturing and marketing its own range of home UPS systems, thereby offering a total end to end solution to its customers.

With an annual total income of Rs 8,702.53 crore (as on 31st March, 2017), the company is the largest among the branded lead acid storage battery businesses in India. The company has been consistently profitable and dividend paying ever since its inception.

What technical collaborations have you done with other countries?

We have technical collaborations with two Japanese battery manufacturers Furukawa and Shin Kobe. We also have technical collaborations with East Penn Manufacturing Company of the USA and E-Coult Energy Storage Solutions of Australia.

What are some of the popular products of Exide?

Exide is the market leader in automotive and industrial batteries. Most cars in India run on Exide. Exide’s range of tubular batteries for home UPS and Solar are also popular in power deficient areas of the country. Our focus is to offer a total energy solution for Solar Power Packs for both domestic and industrial application.

Give us some idea about Exide’s global presence.

Exide’s batteries are exported all over the world under its various brand names. It has a huge dealer network in 46 countries spread across five continents. Exide also has its own subsidiaries in Sri Lanka, Singapore and UK. The largest battery maker in Sri Lanka is majority owned (61.5 per cent) by Exide Industries.

Since the country is moving towards e-governance, what digital initiatives have been introduced by the company?

Apart from fulfilling all the statutory requirements towards e-governance, Exide has made it easier for customers to buy batteries online through its app ExideCare. Exide has also gone in for a massive drive to make its huge dealer network adopt digital payment mechanism. Exide has facilitated the process through tie-ups with third parties like Eze Tap for point of sale payment acceptance machines and other payment gateways etc.

Considering the challenging market conditions, what plans do you have in the pipeline?

Our aim is to remain and consolidate our position as the market leader as well as technology leader in the country. We are taking steps to remain in the forefront of technology which is fast evolving the world over. We are planning to enter the Lithium-ion battery market through both domestic as well as foreign collaboration. Towards this, we are in talks with various agencies including the IITs in India and other technology partners abroad. We are also environmentally conscious. We are the only large battery maker in the country with its own smelting units. We already have two such units in Bengaluru and Pune. A third is in the process of being set up in the east. In the renewable energy space, we have our range of solar batteries that are popular in areas where grid power is not available. We are also planning a foray into ultra batteries through our technical collaboration with the world leaders in this field to offer battery energy storage solutions for utility grid application.

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