Chinese lead-acid battery maker Leoch International Technology (Leoch) has invested $9m in its Sri Lankan factory in order to expand in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The $9m investment is the first phase of further spending on Leoch’s Southern Bata-Ata facility. The company plans to invest $20m at a later stage. The Sri Lankan factory manufactures batteries for uninterruptible power supplies.
“The main markets for our Sri Lanka-made products are India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and we are currently exploring the Middle East as well; in that, the bulk of our containers go to India, followed by Pakistan,” said Sam Teo, manager HR & and second in command of Leoch’s Sri Lankan operations. Most of the battery containers are shipped to India, he added.
According to Leoch, the planned investments will increase the capacity to 100 containers per month generating 1200 additional jobs and $72m annual export revenue to Sri Lanka.
“Also, if our current proposal to Schneider Electric India is accepted by them, then we will be adding another ten containers per month for Indian market and also bringing our current export capacity to 30 containers a month,” said Teo.
The Indian lead-acid battery market is estimated to be worth more than $3.2 billion.
