Deep inside a sprawling greenfield site on the outskirts of Pune, India's most consequential manufacturing bet is quietly taking shape. Agratas Energy Storage Solutions — the Tata Group's battery subsidiary — is building what will become India's largest lithium-ion battery gigafactory: a 40 GWh facility that, when fully operational by 2028, will produce enough batteries to power 8 lakh EVs a year.
Why This Gigafactory Matters
India currently imports over 85% of its lithium-ion cells from China. This dependency has been the Achilles heel of India's EV ambitions — one supply chain disruption or geopolitical event could cripple production across every Indian EV brand simultaneously. The Pune gigafactory is India's strategic answer.
- Capacity: 40 GWh by 2028 (Phase 1: 10 GWh by 2026)
- Investment: ₹13,000 crore (including PLI incentives of ₹3,500 crore)
- Cell chemistry: LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) for commercial vehicles; NMC for passenger vehicles
- Technology partner: Japan's Panasonic for NMC cell design; ISRO's Space Applications Centre for thermal management IP
- Jobs: 8,000 direct; 35,000 indirect by 2028
First Hand: Inside the Construction Site
ET Auto received exclusive access to the Agratas construction site. What's immediately striking is the scale — 200 acres with an air-conditioned dry room spanning 80,000 sq ft, the largest in South Asia. The dry room — where lithium cells are assembled — must maintain humidity below 0.1% to prevent moisture contamination. Achieving this at India's ambient humidity levels is itself an engineering challenge.
Agratas CEO Siddharth Anantharaman told ET Auto: "We are not just building a factory. We are building a capability that India has never had. The goal is for the cost of Indian-made cells to be within 7% of Chinese cells by 2027 — and below Chinese cost by 2030."
PLI & Government Support
The gigafactory is a key beneficiary of India's ACC PLI (Advanced Chemistry Cell) scheme — ₹18,100 crore set aside to incentivize domestic cell manufacturing. Agratas has been allocated the largest tranche: ₹3,500 crore over 5 years, contingent on meeting production milestones. Phase 1 production of 10 GWh must begin by October 2026.