Amara Raja Batteries Limited registered a strong performance in FY21 bucking the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic lockdown by registering a strong volume growth across verticals.

Growth was aided by volumes in both automotive and industrial applications across all customer segments. These sectors witnessed better- than-expected demand in the last two quarters of the last financial year.

The batteries major posted a profit of ₹646.83 crore and income of ₹7237.14 crore for FY21.

The company completed expansion of capacities in 4Ws/2Ws (by 1.5m/3m units to 14m/20m units) and is expected to deploy a capex of about ₹400-450 crore in FY22, according to Motilal Oswal.

Significantly, the company is working on the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme announced by the Government for advanced chemistry cell batteries and is awaiting detailed guidelines from the government.

The company had to shut down its units for 4-5 days following a closure notice from the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board. However, following High Court relief, the company is operating them and working towards correcting the observations of the APPCB.

After declaring results in Saturday, Jayadev Galla, Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, ARBL, said the company managed to perform better than the previous year despite the very challenging and uncertain environment during the fiscal. The last quarter of FY21 witnessed strong growth across all segments.

According to Anand Rathi, for FY22, revenues will grow across verticals primarily led by 2W and 4W OEMs, home inverters and the industrials business. The company’s capacity, post-expansion, is 20m 2W batteries, 14m 4W batteries and 1.5m home inverters.

The company is deploying ₹300 crore for a solar plant and addition of lines in 2Ws and smelting capacity (50,000 tpa) and ₹100 crore as maintenance capex.

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