Base Batteries, the Bangalore-based manufacturer of various types of batteries, will annually spend Rs 40 crore for the next three years on advertising to increasing its brand awareness among the public.

“We will be seen in all the media to popularise our brand,” Mr Aditya Arora, Chief Operating Officer, Base Batteries, told Business Line .

As a major step in its the brand building exercise, Base Batteries has entered in to a technology tie up with Formula 1 team Hispania Racing Team (HRT) whereby its logo will be seen on either side of the HRT Formula 1 cars during the racing season. This will be a three year contract that will ensure exposure for Base Batteries on a global sage in one of the world's most prestigious sporting arenas, he said.

Through the tie up, Base Batteries becomes the first Indian company to be the official battery supplier to HRT at the forthcoming Formula One Indian Grand Prix season.

Base Batteries had earlier sponsored the Canadian cricket team during the recent World Cup with players, coach and support staff of the team sporting the company's logo on their jerseys. This was the beginning of the brand's association with sports, said Mr Arora. In both the Canadian team and HRT tie ups, the company had associated with young teams, he said.

“In the next three years we want to be among the top three battery manufacturers,” said Mr Arora. The annual Indian battery business is worth around Rs 28,000 crore, he said.

The company has set a target of becoming an Rs 2,500-crore company in the next four years from the present Rs 612 crore. The upcoming manufacturing facility at Hosur in Tamil Nadu will help the company manufacture 3.20 lakh batteries a month and worth Rs 2,000 crore. It has a facility in Himachal Pradesh manufacturing around 60,000 batteries for sectors such as automotive, solar, inverter and two-wheelers.

Once the manufacturing facility is ready and the branding exercise will be over in the next three years, the company hopes its market share will increase to 15 per cent from the current 2.1 per cent, he said.

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