The Rs 700-crore Himadri Chemicals and Industries Ltd plans to emerge as the country's only commercial manufacturer of advanced carbon material, which is used in lithium-ion batteries for electronic items, including cell phones.
The Kolkata-based company – which has been producing the advanced carbon materials on a pilot basis – plans to shore up its capacity once the business attains commercial scale, said Mr Anurag Choudhury, Chief Executive Officer.
“We currently do carbonisation of the advanced carbon material at our plant in Singur. We are also looking at putting in place a system for graphitisation of the material in order to have the end product required for such batteries in place,” Mr Choudhury said. The company is now commissioning a graphitisation facility at Falta in Bengal at an estimated investment of about Rs 50 crore.
Japanese help
Himadri is currently working in this direction with support from two Japanese lithium-ion battery manufacturers.
This is a part of the company's Rs 600-crore investment plan, which includes an investment of Rs 520 crore for the greenfield and brownfield expansion of its core business of coal tar pitch and its downstream products.