‘Securing lithium reserves need of the hour’

The Indian government’s relatively slow progress in securing lithium reserves could be a big problem for the energy storage industry in the country, according to a senior official at Panasonic India, who said that this would mean the country would have to rely on imports from China. “China securing its lithium ion reserves and India not doing as much in this area could be a big problem,” said Atul Arya, head, Energy Systems at Panasonic India. There is no need to worry about anything, somebody else is making it, and we are only consuming.” “But, if Make in India is a motto and we are serious about it, then we have to do a lot of things in terms of securing various commodities that go into it,” Mr. Arya added. But if you are happy with somebody delivering food, then you don’t need to have a kitchen itself, forget about groceries.” Mr. Arya explained that India had moved substantially away from the prevalent lead acid batteries towards those based on lithium ion technology, which was far more efficient.