HZL seeks Indian partner to set up manufacturing plant for zinc-based batteries

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Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL), part of mining major Vedanta Ltd, is looking for domestic partners to set up manufacturing plants to make Zinc-based batteries in India, senior executives said in an interaction with Mint. The company had earlier announced that it had entered into a strategic partnership with US-based AEsir Technologies to explore zinc-based energy storage solutions and reduce dependency on other critical minerals. “The world is going through an energy transition, so everybody is looking for a solution and with lithium being costly, not widely available, and has safety issues, so, we thought it to be the right opportunity for the Zinc business to get into it," said Arun Misra, CEO, HZL.

Describing zinc-based batteries as safer and cheaper than lithium-ion-based batteries, he added, “We have signed up agreement with the USA-based company, who are excellent in producing zinc-nickel batteries and we are looking to get partners in India, who would put up mega factories for producing zinc batteries. We’ll make India atmanirbhar in these battery solutions also." Also read | Hindustan Zinc explores doubling capacity; launches low-carbon zinc The company hasn’t allocated any investment amount for the project, as it is expecting to look into it with AEsir Technologies.

“We need a partner who manufactures batteries. We need a new investor, all that we'll look at," emphasized Sandeep Modi, CFO, HZL.

HZL on Friday also announced its results for the first quarter that ended 30 June, recording a 19.39% year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit to ₹2,345 crore, driven by operational efficiency. This is against a net profit of ₹1,964 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal year.