Tata And JSW Are Spending Nearly Rs 8,600 Crore To Build Electric Vehicle Battery Know-How At Home
Tata Group and JSW Group are putting close to Rs 8,600 crore into battery and EV-related research, with both trying to reduce long-term dependence on imported technology. The two projects are separate, but the direction is similar. Build local engineering capability first, then reduce how much has to be bought from outside later.
Tata’s battery arm Agratas is investing more than $400 million, roughly Rs 4,000 crore, in a Bengaluru R&D centre focused on lithium iron phosphate and lithium manganese iron phosphate chemistries. JSW Motors is spending at least $500 million, or about Rs 4,200 crore, on a Maharashtra research hub over the next five to six years.
This is really about the battery parts of the EV business that still sit heavily outside India. LFP is already the dominant chemistry in many mass-market EVs because it is cheaper, safer and more durable than nickel-heavy alternatives, even if energy density is lower. LMFP is the next step many companies are looking at because it can improve energy density while keeping much of LFP’s cost and safety advantage.
That is where Tata’s gap has been. Agratas already has access to nickel manganese cobalt technology through South Korean links. LFP and LMFP are the missing pieces. The Bengaluru facility is meant to close that gap. Tata also has an Oxford lab supporting the same programme, which suggests the company is trying to build a full internal development chain rather than just a pilot research unit.
The manufacturing side is already in motion. Agratas is building a 20 GWh battery plant at Sanand in Gujarat and a larger 40 GWh facility at Somerset in the UK. That gives the R&D investment more context. This is not basic science disconnected from production. Tata is trying to link chemistry development, industrialisation and future manufacturing.
JSW’s plan is broader. Its Maharashtra centre is being designed not just for battery work but for localising vehicles developed with overseas partners, building software capability for connected vehicles and strengthening EV systems engineering.
That matches the stage JSW is at. The group is still assembling its passenger-vehicle business and is building a plant at Bidkin in Maharashtra. It has also warned that its first car launch could face delays because several key parts still need approvals from China-linked suppliers.
Seen that way, the R&D centre is not a side project. It is meant to reduce the period for which JSW stays dependent on outside partners for engineering decisions. The group is already spending much more on its auto business than just this centre. Reuters reported earlier that JSW Motors planned to invest $3 billion in manufacturing hybrid and electric vehicles in Maharashtra. The research hub is the technical base behind that spend.
There is a wider industry point here. India’s EV assembly business can expand with imported cells and imported battery know-how for only so long before cost, supply and currency exposure start becoming bigger problems.
Domestic battery R&D does not solve that quickly, but it does change the path. It gives companies a better chance of designing packs for local heat, usage cycles and price points instead of adapting products built for other markets.
These two investments are not about immediate showroom impact. They are about reducing dependence in the most expensive part of the EV supply chain over time. Tata is trying to build battery chemistry capability around an emerging manufacturing base. JSW is trying to build the engineering depth needed to localise vehicles and EV systems instead of permanently outsourcing that work.