Eveready commences operation at Assam unit.

The country's largest dry cell battery maker Eveready Industries has made operational its new battery and LED flashlight plant at Goalpara in Assam.

Built at a cost of ₹110-120 crore, this will be the company's largest manufacturing facility till date.

According to Amritanshu Khaitan, Managing Director, Eveready’s Assam unit will have an annual capacity of 500 million batteries and nine million flashlights.

“This is the company’s largest manufacturing facility,” he said.

Eveready has an existing capacity of 1.3-1.4 billion batteries across manufacturing facilities in Kolkata (West Bengal), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Maddur (near Bengaluru in Karnataka) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh).

It manufactures brass flashlights - around one-two million - at its Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) facility, while LED flashlights are mostly outsourced.

“One of the major reasons for us to have a unit in Assam is to due to the fiscal benefits,” he said, adding that if required other product lines can be added to this new facility.

Batteries currently account for 57 per cent of the company’s turnover, while flashlights account for 15 per cent.

The other verticals that the company is into include lighting (including LED lights), small appliances and packet tea.

HBL