If T’gana govt doesn’t honour commitments, Amara Raja may go elsewhere for expansion: Jayadev Galla

Galla’s remarks coincided with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s ongoing visit to the US, where he is promoting Telangana as a viable investment destination.

Expressing concern over the financial health of the Congress government in Telangana, Jayadev Galla, Chairman of Amara Raja Energy & Mobility on Saturday said if it does not honour the commitments made by the previous BRS regime, then they may have to look elsewhere for its plant’s capacity expansion.

Galla’s comments came at a time when Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his team are touring the US trying to hardsell Telangana as an investment destination.

Earlier in the day, Amara Raja Group held a groundbreaking ceremony for their Customer Qualification Plant for cell manufacturing and also inaugurated Phase 1 of the battery pack plant of 1.5 GWh in Mahabubnagar district.

The battery maker had signed a MoU with the previous BRS government for investing 9,500 crore, over a period of 10 years, for setting up research and development and a Greenfield manufacturing facility for Lithium-Ion battery-making in Telangana, which has an ultimate capacity up to 16 GWh and a Battery Pack Assembly unit up to 5 GWh. Galla recalled that the previous government had made certain commitments in terms of industrial incentives to bring this project to Telangana and expressed hope that they would be honoured by the present regime.

“The doubt is, it’s a different government (now) and until we see it actually happen, we won’t know. So we are hopeful, but I guess the financial situation of the government itself is in question, whether they’re capable of paying these things (industrial incentives). It is not about the intent (of the government). Do they have the funds? Do they have the resources to honour those commitments?” he wondered. He was replying to a query on the plant capacity expansion beyond 16 GGWh and if the company has any doubts about the present government on honouring the commitments given by the previous BRS regime. Galla, however, said there are no issues with the government as of now. “We are not expecting trouble, but you know how things go in India.

When the government changes generally commitments are not necessarily always kept. We are hopeful and we are waiting and watching. As long as the experience is positive, we would not necessarily have to look elsewhere (for expansion beyond 16 gwh)…” he added. He also said the Amara Raja Group may become a USD 5 billion entity in the next five years if everything goes as planned and with favourable EV market dynamics. PTI GDK ROH