JSW, Amara Raja, Reliance submit bids to make batteries in India

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Reliance Industries, JSW Neo Energy and Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies are among seven companies who have submitted bids to set up battery manufacturing gigafactory in India, the government said on Tuesday.

The companies have submitted bids to set up units to manufacture advanced chemistry cells with a total capacity of 10GWh under the government's production-linked incentive scheme.

India offers incentives to private firms with an aim of boosting local production. The scheme for battery manufacturing has a maximum outlay of 36.20 billion rupees ($434.41 million), the government said.

Battery energy projects are critical to India's plan to expand its renewable energy capacity to 500 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, from 178 GW at present.

India's oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance, owned by the country's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and power company JSW Energy's JSW Neo Energy were others who put their name in the hat.

Shares of Amara Raja Energy and Mobility, whose unit Amara Raja Advanced Cell is one of the bidders, soared 15% to an all-time high after the announcement.

($1 = 83.3310 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta, additional reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; editing by David Evans)