InoxGFL bets big on battery chemicals in $1 bn investment

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : The InoxGFL Group plans to invest nearly $1 billion across segments, including battery chemicals, green hydrogen and wind energy services, over the next three to four years, a big chunk of which will go into India’s largest battery chemicals factory it plans to build in Gujarat.. In an interview, Devansh Jain, executive director, InoxGFL said the factory investment is in the initial phase of discussions. The business is housed under GFCL EV Products Ltd, a subsidiary.

“That’s a business that we are very, very bullish on. I think, that’s somewhere where we would probably be investing a large part of the nearly billion dollars planned over the next three to four years. That business is going to see exponential growth as we move forward as a group.

And as a company, as a group, we will be elucidating our plans on that may be a month down the line," he said, adding the company has a “large vision" for the battery chemicals business. InoxGFL will enter battery manufacturing but focus on chemicals, its core competency. “Why are we in battery chemicals? Because a lot of that is backed by fluorine, that’s the group DNA.

It’s a very unique position. We’re probably years ahead of anybody else. Batteries are not a core competence.

We don’t want to get into battery. There are enough battery players will be supplying to, all the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and the battery manufacturers." InoxGFL has three chemical manufacturing facilities in India and owns a fluorspar mine in Morocco, along with offices and warehouses in Europe and the US. Jain said given India’s recent lithium discovery, the company will also consider bidding for mines holding the key mineral used in batteries.