India's Ola Electric considers bid for lithium mining rights - sources

NLC India

07/02/2024 10:16

By Neha Arora and Aditi Shah
       NEW DELHI, Feb 7 (Reuters) - SoftBank-backed Indian
e-scooter maker Ola Electric is considering bidding for mining
rights for lithium blocks being auctioned by the Indian
government, sources said, in a move that could boost its EV
battery manufacturing plans.
    As part of plans to secure supplies of minerals such as
lithium - a raw material used to make electric vehicle batteries
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government late last year
launched the first part of its critical minerals auctions.
    Amid growing energy needs, India is trying to encourage
electric vehicle production to cut greenhouse gas emissions and
reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports.
    Electric vehicles made up about 2% of total car sales in
India of 3.9 million last fiscal year, but the government wants
to grow this to 30% by 2030.
    "Ola has shown interest and has put forward lots of queries
around land acquisition and discovery of other minerals
alongside lithium in the blocks," one of the sources said.
    Ola executives have attended the auction meetings, the
second source said. But the company is yet to take a final call,
which depends on factors such as global prices of lithium and
the viability of mining it, the second source said.
    Lithium is important for Ola, as it plans to locally produce
lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. This would help
the company vertically integrate the supply chain, the second
source said.
    Both sources declined to be identified as they were not
authorised to talk to the media.
    Ola Electric declined to comment.
    Founded in 2017 in India's tech hub of Bengaluru, Ola
Electric launched its e-scooters two years ago and has risen to
become the market leader with over 30% market share.
    In the ongoing auction, the government is likely to generate
around 450 billion rupees ($5.4 billion) by auctioning 20 blocks
across eight states.
    Other potential bidders for lithium include Adani
Enterprises  ADEL.NS , Vedanta Ltd  VDAN.NS , Reliance
Industries  RELI.NS , Himadri Chemicals, Reuters previously
reported.
    Dalmia Cement, UltraTech Cement and NLC India have also
shown interest in the lithium blocks, one of the sources said.
    The companies did not respond to emails from Reuters seeking
comments.

 (Reporting by Neha Arora and Aditi Shah; Additional reporting
by M. Sriram; Editing by Mayank Bhardwaj and David Evans)
 ((neha.dasgupta@tr.com))