According to a proposal from the power ministry, the Indian government is planning a multibillion-dollar subsidy programme to help companies that manufacture electrical grid batteries, this programme is part of the country's transition to renewable energy.

As per the source, a draught proposal in India describes a production-linked incentive subsidy plan. Companies would get 216 billion rupees ($2.63 billion) under this scheme from 2023 to 2030 to create battery cell manufacturing capacity in the country.

The draught plan acknowledges the impossibility of developing coal-based thermal generation due to "international opinion" and environmental concerns. The Indian power ministry did not respond immediately to a comment request. According to the draught plan, building indigenous battery cell manufacturing is critical to decreasing India's dependency on competitor China for battery imports, in addition to enabling the energy transition.

"If India does not take immediate steps to establish local manufacturing capacity for battery energy storage systems, the imperatives of our energy transition will result in massive imports from China," according to the proposal document.

Indian researchers are exploring several new chemistries for battery storage to reduce dependence on imports of lithium, the predominant mineral used in batteries today. Most of the raw lithium in the world is now processed into battery-grade chemicals in China.