Exide earmarks Rs 370-cr capex for FY12

Exide Industries, India's top auto and industrial battery maker, said it has earmarked Rs 370 crore for capital expenditure in 2011/12 as it boosts output to meet demand from automakers.

Exide has been increasing capacity at its six manufacturing facilities in India to cater to the requirements of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who have seen a boom in auto sales.

The company has also started operations at a new motorcycle battery manufacturing plant at Ahmednagar, in Maharashtra.

Earlier, Exide reported a 22% increase in fourth quarter net profit which also beat analysts expectations on higher sales.

"The buoyant demand in the automotive OE segment continued into the fourth quarter as well. Consequently, we had to divert some capacity from our aftermarket business which again put pressures on our margins in the fourth quarter," Exide's Managing Director TV Ramanathan said in a statement.

"We are confident that on-going work on fresh capacity creation, will ease the capacity constraints by end of the second quarter of the current financial year".

The company's shares had closed down 3.27% at Rs 140.30 in a weak Mumbai market.