 The Company’s predecessor began its operations in 1916 as an import house called Chloride electrical Storage Company. Since then, over the years, the Company has been steadily progressing by taking necessary initiatives to modernize its manufacturing processes and by constantly improving its customer services.
In the year 1994, the Company had entered into a technical collaboration with Shin Kobe Electric Machinery Co. Ltd. of Japan, a subsidiary of the Hitachi Group. The main objective of entering into this collaboration was accessing technology for the new automotive vehicles entering the Indian market. Further in the year 1998, with an objective of increasing capacity without the time lag in setting-up greenfield project the company acquired the Industrial Undertakings of Standard Batteries Limited as a going concern. This acquisition strengthened its production base as well as giving the Company access to technology from The Furukawa Battery Company of Japan.
On the marketing front, with an objective to get a global platform to expand its business the Company acquired a 100% stake in Caldyne Automatics Ltd in July 2007 and 100% stake in Chloride Batteries S E Asia Pte Ltd., Singapore and 49% stake in Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Limited, Sri Lanka in the year 2001. The stake in Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Limited, Sri Lanka was increased to 61.5% by acquiring additional 12.5% stake in 2004.
The company has also acquired a 51% stake in ESPEX Batteries Limited, U.K.and a 26% shareholding in Ceil Motive Power Pty Limited, Australia. The Company has also acquired a 100% stake in Tandon Metals Pvt. Ltd. in October 2007.
In June 2008 the company acquired a 51 per cent stake in Leadage Alloys India Ltd.
Through these continuous innovations and collaborations the Company has gradually risen to become one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of batteries in the sub-continent today. The Company manufactures the widest range of storage batteries in the world from 2.5 Ah to 20400 Ah capacity, covering the broadest spectrum of applications. As on today, the Company has a domestic market share of 45% in Industrial, 72% in Auto OE and 73% in replacement auto . The Company being the domestic storage major, is also one of the largest power storage solution company in South-East Asia.
On the domestic front, the Company has six factories located across India – 2 in the states of Maharashtra, 2 in the state of West Bengal, 1 in state of Tamil Nadu and 1 in the state of Haryana. The Company power most of the industrial and automotive segments in the country and the products are used in critical applications in infrastructure and defence sectors.
| Automotive Batteries |
In the domestic market, the Company sells its products under EXIDE, SF, SONIC and Standard Furukawa Brands.’EXIDE’ and ‘SF” are its flagship brands. In the international market the products are sold mainly under DYNEX, INDEX & SONIC brands. The Company supplies batteries to almost all the car and two-wheeler manufacturers in the country.
The Company has a distribution network comprising over 4000 dealer outlets. These outlets are supported by 4 regional offices and 28 branch offices. The Company also exports batteries to the Middle East, Japan and CIS countries.
The Company has a market share of 72% in case of Automotive OEM and 70% in case of Organized Retail. The Company also manufactures submarine batteries. |
| |
| Industrial Batteries |
The Company designs and manufacture its industrial batteries in a wide range from 2.5 Ah to 20,600 Ah in conventional flooded and Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) design. In domestic market, the Company sell its products mainly under EXIDE, INDEX, SF, CEIL & POWER SAFE brands and in the international markets mainly under CEIL, CHLORIDE and INDEX brands.
Industrial batteries are of three types, Conventional lead acid batteries, VRLA (Valve regulated lead acid batteries) batteries and Nickel-Cadmium batteries.
Both organized and unorganized players compete in the OEM and retail industrial battery markets. Industrial batteries cater mostly to the infrastructure sector such as railways, telecom, power plants, solar cells and other industrial segments such as uninterrupted power supply, inverters and traction batteries. Exide’s Inva tubular batteries for Inverter applications were introduced in 2000 and Tele tubular for Telecom Sector introduced in the year 2007 has created volume growth.. The Company also manufacture industrial batteries for niche segments such as miners’ cap lamp batteries and submarine batteries. |
| |
| Submarine Batteries |
| The Company also manufactures high-end submarine batteries (Type 1, 2 & 3). The Company manufactures two to three submarine batteries a year to meet the country’s defence requirements. The Company is one of the five companies in the World which has the capability to make submarine batteries for both Russian and German types. With the government’s permission, in recent years, the Company has exported to Algeria. |
|
