Daramic Thrives With Battery Separators In the Indian Energy Market

Ahila Krishnamoorthy Managing Director - Daramic

Daramic LLC, an Asahi Kasei Group company is not only the world’s largest manufacturer of Polyethylene (PE) separators but also the only manufacturer of phenolic resin based separators for automotive, industrial and specialty applications in lead acid battery industry. Daramic by inventing the polyethylene separators in 1969 paved the way for automation in lead-acid battery industry. Ahila Krishnamoorthy, Managing Director, Daramic, in coversation with CE&CR shares their plans about their business and operations in India, challenges and opportunities in the sector, and future outlook for the region.

CE&CR: Please enlighten us about the journey of Daramic Battery Separator Pvt. Ltd. in India.

Ahila Krishnamoorthy: Daramic was established in the United States in 1930 and invented the PE separators in 1969 for lead acid batteries. Since then, the company has been a leader in the lead acid battery industry. Although, Daramic catered to major battery manufacturers directly from their global plants, they set up shop in India by acquiring Supertech, Bangalore and expanded their PE finishing facility to meet the needs and demands of even the smaller battery manufactures. Daramic expanded its finishing setup by setting up a plant in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh to serve customers in North India. In 2017, Daramic established PE manufacturing plant in Dahej, Gujarat, which also houses their R&D centre. Within 14 months of ground breaking, in January 2016, the Dahej plant was up and running with two production lines by early 2017. In 2021, the company doubled its production capacity by adding two more lines. Currently Daramic is the largest separator supplier in the Indian markets.

CE&CR: What is your outlook about battery separator business and operations in India?

Ahila Krishnamoorthy: India is one of the prime hubs for the lead-acid battery industry. The expansion to 4 lines of production was also a result of the growing demand in India. We are seeing tremendous growth in the region and our local manufacturing presence is helping us tide the growth in the region. We are very bullish in terms of investment in the Indian market and doubling our capacities within four years is a clear indicator for that. We are committed to keep investing and expanding our capacities in India to continue to not only meet the regional demand but also use this facility as an export hub for adjacent geographies. Our vision to ‘Be Global Act Local’ compliments our strategy of investments in India to fulfill the growing demand of the region for lead acid batteries.

CE&CR: Shed some light about the manufacturing facility with respect to location and what is the turnover capacity? Do you meet supply and demand for neighboring countries as well?

Ahila Krishnamoorthy: We have two plants in India, one at Dahej, Gujarat and the other at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. The Dahej plant is the mother plant having both manufacturing and finishing capabilities of PE separators. One of the three global R&D centres is currently operational out of the Dahej plant.
We developed exclusive separators like HiCharge and RickLife to meet region specific needs for Inverter and E-Rickshaw battery application at our India R&D centre. Our Baddi, Himachal Pradesh plant is a finishing plant that caters to the needs of small to large-scale manufacturers who want customised product solution ready to use for their batteries. With our Dahej and Baddi plants we are able to meet the full demand of all major customers in India and command the highest market share.

CE&CR: How do you link increasing demand for inverters from tier 2, tier 3 cities as part of the country’s rural electrification with batteries?

Ahila Krishnamoorthy: The Indian Government has been working to bring electricity to rural parts of the country and has made significant improvement
in expanding the electrification reach. Although the electricity has reached the farthest most parts of the country but uninterrupted supplies remain
a challenge. This shortage of electricity supplies in the tier 2 and tier 3 cities is driving the demand of inverter batteries. The demand for the batteries and battery separator will not decline and in fact will continue to grow with the increase in electrification of rural India.

CE&CR: Who is your main clientele in India? Which are the other markets catered by Daramic?

Ahila Krishnamoorthy: Ever since its entry into the Indian market, Daramic has been catering to the needs of all the major battery manufacturers
in the country and with the finishing facility we also are able to meet the need of the smaller battery manufacturers. With our PE manufacturing plant and finishing facility based out of Dahej and Baddi, we are capable of meeting the full demand of battery manufactures as small as making 200 batteries a month to manufacturers making two million batteries a month. We are catering to the demand of all lead acid battery manufactures based out of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. We are supplying separators for batteries used in varied application like Automotive, Inverters, Solar, E-Rickshaw etc.

CE&CR: What would be the exciting industry developments to look forward to in 2022?

Ahila Krishnamoorthy: We are expecting a huge rise in demand for inverters from rural areas and tier 2 and tier 3 cities for inverters, especially in areas where power outages are common. The Indian Government has been working to bring electricity to rural parts of the country and has made significant improvement in expanding the electrification reach. With the efforts of electrification being expanded to all parts of the country and the increasing purchasing capacity of the people, inverters are going to be in demand in these regions as people will feel the need to have a continuous supply of power. Even though the peak demand deficit in the country is coming down but we continue to see double digit growth in the inverter market segment. There is also a huge push for EVs in the country. However, shifting entirely to EV’s in such a short time seems over ambitious as even today. However even if it happens,
the EV’s will still need a lead acid battery to provide for auxiliary power which is all based on 12V system.

CE&CR: The world is rapidly paving its route to towards realizing ‘an All-electric/all EV dream’, and consequently, there is and will be a perpetual steep in the demand for Lithium-ion batteries. However, the lead-acid battery segment continues to hold the major share of the global rechargeable battery market. What are the reasons for that from your vantage point?

Ahila Krishnamoorthy: Globally, one of the biggest topics of discussion within this industry is regarding EVs. Experts all over the world are contemplating whether or not EVs will eventually replace the cars that we currently use. However, we believe that lead acid batteries are here to stay, at least for the
next 2 decades. When it comes to lead-acid batteries, they are a vital component in the EV industry. Governments all over the world are making a push for EVs and the transition to greener energy by 2030. India in particular has set a goal to move to green energy and EVs by 2030. Even though EVs run on energy efficient solutions, they still need to use a lead-acid battery to power the electrical components in the car. Our parent company, Asahi Kasei is also involved in the manufacture of lithium-ion battery separators so we are well poised to meet not only the surge in demand for the existing lead acid batteries but also we are future ready for any transition which happens in development and manufacturing of lithium ion batteries to power the EV’s.

For further information,
visit: www.daramic.com