LICO Materials, a battery recycling and repurposing company, intends to increase its sales to over 100 crore by FY26, driven by India's burgeoning EV and energy storage sectors, according to CEO Gaurav Dolwani.
"This year, we're expecting about ₹30 crore. In a commodity upswing, doing the same business, we could probably cross ₹100 crore," Dolwani said, highlighting the company’s ambitious growth trajectory.
Despite meeting its production targets, the company encountered revenue issues in the current fiscal year due to lower prices for crucial battery ingredients, including lithium, cobalt, and nickel.
Last month, LICO opened a cutting-edge battery recycling facility in Bengaluru with an annual processing capacity of 17,500 tonnes of battery input. The company intends to invest ₹250 crore in developing a downstream chemical complex within 2-3 years. According to Dolwani, the project will be funded through a combination of equity and debt.
Looking ahead, LICO intends to establish a similar facility in Delhi-NCR within two years if the Bengaluru factory reaches full capacity. The capacity of the Delhi-NCR operation may be changed based on raw material availability and end-of-life battery or cell production scrap returns.
With India EV industry projected to grow by 250% and the energy storage sector expected to reach 42 GW by 2032, battery recycling and repurposing are set to play a pivotal role in supporting a circular economy for critical minerals.
LICO has set an ambitious target of recycling 200,000 metric tonnes of batteries annually by 2027, equivalent to batteries used in electric cars. This initiative is expected to yield substantial environmental benefits, including saving 100 million litres of water and reducing CO2 emissions equivalent to the absorption capacity of 37 million trees.
Founded in October 2021, LICO Materials is focused on creating sustainable solutions for the lithium-ion battery supply chain, emphasising the recovery and repurposing of critical materials to support the battery circular economy.
