Neogen Chemicals Ltd., having entered the electrolyte market, is eyeing Rs 1000–1200 crore in revenue from the battery chemical segment, according to its Managing Director Harin Kanani.
The company has been the biggest user of lithium carbonate in India and is a manufacturer of specialty lithium-based derivatives. With this expertise, the company entered the electrolyte market and last year announced a demo facility for making electrolytes, which will come in a couple of months. The company will also be making electrolyte salts.
With this, the company will take care of the initial demand in India as well as electrolyte salts for the international market. The demand for electrolyte salt in the international market is expected to be 20 times higher than that in India by 2030, according to Kanani.
Neogen Chemicals has two business segments: organic and inorganic chemicals. Under organic chemicals, the company makes bromine compounds and advanced intermediates, which are forward-integrated value-added products, and does custom synthesis and contract manufacturing. This finds application in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, aroma chemicals, electronic chemicals, and flavours.
The inorganic portfolio includes specialty, inorganic lithium-based chemical products that find applications across multiple industries, such as pharmaceuticals, specialty polymers, battery chemicals, and construction chemicals.
The company has recently signed a technology licence agreement with MU Iconic Solutions Corporation, which is one of the largest players in making electrolytes in five different countries. This tie-up will help Neogen make electrolytes with a proven technology.
India has awarded contracts to make up to 50 gigawatt-hour batteries, which means 50,000 metric tonnes of electrolyte, translating into a demand of around 7,500 metric tonnes of electrolyte salts, Kanani said. PLI as well as non-PLI recipients have announced setting up these gigafactories by 2024–25, which would scale up by at least 5–10 times in 2025–26, he said.
This demand could be at least 160–200 gigawatt hours by 2030, which will basically translate into 1,50,000 metric tonnes to 2 lakh metric tonnes. In contrast, Neogen announced a capacity of 1000 metric tonnes of electrolyte and 400 metric tonnes of electrolyte salt.
The company's revenues may be around Rs 900–1,050 crore by FY25–26, considering full utilisation, he said. By FY27, revenues from battery material, depending on lithium prices, would be around Rs 1000–1200 crore, he said.
On the alternative to lithium-ion technologies, he said that any new technology takes time. He expects, though, that there will not be any major change in electrolyte technology before 2030 in the EV segment, but the company has already worked on the salts required for sodium ion batteries. The company's facilities are flexible and multipurpose and can be used for other chemistries.
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