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Energizer to expand battery range

Ambarish Mukherjee

NEW DELHI, July 11

ENERGIZER India Ltd, which has established its presence in the premium segment of the domestic battery market with technical collaborations with the Energizer International Inc. of Finland and Eveready Battery Co. Inc. of the US, has chalked out a plan t o offer its consumers the entire range of batteries available in the domestic market. Till now, it had a presence only in the premium segment of alkaline batteries.

The new items which the company proposes to launch in the near future include primary batteries of manganese dioxide, mercuric oxide, silver oxide, lithium, zinc-air as well as alkaline and other battery products for which it has received the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

The company's move comes in the wake of its inability to expand he market for its products in the desired manner.

According to industry sources, this is because the domestic market for alkaline batteries has not grown as per expectations and it is the manganese-dioxide based batteries that still predominantly rule the domestic market.

During 1998-99, Energizer India notched up sales worth Rs 5 crore and in 1999-2000, the company's sales stood at Rs 11 crore.

The domestic market for alkaline batteries is currently estimated to be around 20 million units as against 2,000 million units for manganese dioxide batteries.

Moreover, Energizer is faced with stiff competition from other major battery manufacturers like Duracell and BPL in the alkaline sector itself, who have established manufacturing base in India.

They also have a presence in other type of batteries. Moreover, other battery manufacturers are also engaged in import and sales of alkaline batteries in the country.

According to company sources, unless it can offer the full range of batteries to its consumers, it may not be able to sustain its battery business.

Energizer has already invested around Rs 3.56 crore in land building and machinery for the assembly of batteries. Foreign investment worth Rs 30 crore has also been received by the company.

The expansion activities of the company, however, will essentially be restricted to the wholesale category for the time being and it is not likely to enter the retail segment in the near future.