Commercial production under the production-linked incentive scheme for advanced chemistry cell manufacturing, India's Rs 18,100-crore programme to boost domestic battery cell production, is expected to begin in stages this fiscal year, the Centre said on Thursday.

The Heavy Industries Ministry has awarded 30GWh of capacity to three beneficiaries, namely Ola Cell Technologies Pvt. Ltd, ACC Energy Storage Pvt Ltd, and Reliance New Energy Battery Storage Ltd, and is in the process of awarding another 20GWh, with a goal of producing 50GWh by 2030.

"To monitor the progress of work of the selected beneficiaries, the Ministry has appointed Engineers India Limited (EIL) as Independent Engineers. The prototype testing is almost complete by these beneficiaries and commercial production is likely to start progressively in phases, in FY 2024," an official statement said.

The scheme aims to strengthen the country's ecosystem for electric mobility and battery storage, and it complements the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

"In line with the scheme's vision of ensuring domestic value addition, all three beneficiaries are developing technology for Advanced Chemistry Cells, which is in advanced stages of development." "To date, these beneficiary organisations have invested a total of Rs 2,090 crore," according to the statement.