Noida (Uttar Pradesh)-based lithium ion battery solutions provider and recycling company Lohum has said that it expects a turnover of $1 billion (around ₹7,500 crore) in the next three-four years, as there is a huge opportunity in this sector and India can become the price setter of such batteries with policy support.

The company, which is into lithium-ion battery manufacturing, re-purposing used battery packs, modules and cells to create new batteries, and recycling of battery materials, has a turnover of ₹120 crore now.

Also see: Lohum Cleantech to set up Li-ion battery plant, increase battery recycling capacity

Speaking to BusinessLine , Rajat Verma, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, said, “...it will depend on how we execute over the next three-four years. If my execution plan/vision that I have allows me to become a billion plus dollar company and if I have created $1 billion company of my topline then I become a competitive with very large companies... that’s the whole game plan.”

He said multi-billion dollars worth materials get wasted every year and hence recycling of such materials has a huge opportunity. There are very few companies into this business.

Large-scale facility

Verma said Lohum has raised around $15 million over the last four-five years and is setting up a large facility for battery manufacturing and recycling at Greater Noida. And, apart from a plant in the US, it hopes to set up another unit in Europe by next year.

The company, he said, is looking for another facility at a coastal region, most probably in Gujarat, to use the battery recycling materials it will import.

Also see: The road to green recovery isn’t going to be easy

On competition, Verma said this sector is still in a nascent stage and the big competition is from China which is why “We have set a very clear ambition for ourselves that we want to make in India a price setter in lithium, cobalt and nickel and to get there we have to be very focussed on our recycling activity. Because even in the recycling game, China is consistently providing competition, so to outdo them we have to be superior... that’s the only way,” he said.

Verma said that India can become a hub of processing extracting the last bit of lithium, cobalt and nickel a battery, and this does not require any mining.

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