JSW puts 50GWh cell plant on hold as China tech curbs block partnership

New Delhi/Mumbai: The Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group has put its plans to build a 50GWh battery cell gigafactory in India on hold after failing to secure a Chinese technology partner because of Beijing’s restrictions on technology transfers, a top company executive said.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of JSW MG Motor India's launch of Hector Tomahawk—a sport utility vehicle with both EV and hybrid powertrains—on Wednesday, the firm's director Parth Jindal said that the group is keen to make cells in India but the difficulty in getting a partner for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology has forced it to change its plans.

The admission is a first from an Indian company on how China’s technology-transfer curbs have forced it to put its plan on hold. JSW’s decision follows delays to Reliance Industries’ cell plant and Amara Raja Energy & Mobility’s decision to alter its plans after its technology partnership with China’s Gotion collapsed.

“We're very keen to make cells in India, but the lithium phosphate ion, the LFP technology, currently is not available for us, and the hunt is on for a technology tie-up,” Jindal said.

“We have not yet secured a technology tie-up, and hence that project currently is on hold. LFP is not available anywhere in the world outside of China, and right now they are guarding it like a weapon,” Jindal added.

LFP is one of the types of battery technology along with nickle manganese cobalt (NMC) technology. While LFP is 20-30%cheaper and stable chemistry than the latter, NMC technology offers higher performance and is more diversified, with Japan and South Korea also having access to the technology.

Due to LFP being cheaper and stable, electric vehicle makers across the globe are betting on the technology as they shift away from NMC.

The development also indicates the trouble Indian companies face in building cell manufacturing capacity without access to Chinese technology, with Ola Electric so far the only Indian company to have commissioned a cell plant, with an initial capacity of 1.4 GWh.

Jindal said that the company has been able to undertake battery pack assembly, which is done by importing cells and then packing them together to be used in battery storage vehicles and EVs.

“Our cell-to-pack assembly line of JSW Energy for battery storage, as well as our cell-to-pack facility for MG, both have already been commissioned,” Jindal said.

The latest comments from JSW mark a stark departure from its earlier plans, which were aligned with the push by conglomerates such as Reliance and Tata Agratas.

According to a presentation made by JSW to a Japanese delegation in July 2025, a copy of which Mint has seen, the company’s total 50 GWh of capacity was expected to be live by 2032 in three phases. In the first phase, the company wanted to set up 10GWh of capacity by 2027, during which it would acquire technical know-how of cell technology.

The second phase had to materialise between 2028 and 2030 with construction of 20GWh capacity and then further expand by 20GWH to reach the total capacity of 50GWh.

The conglomerate was looking for a partnership across several countries, including Japan, South Korea and China. In December 2025, Sajjan Jindal, chairman and managing director of the JSW Group, said on the sidelines of World Hindu Economic Forum that the company was planning to set up the battery plant near Nagpur.

“The technology tie-up (for lithium ion battery) is under progress and that we are working to build in Nagpur," he said when asked about tech tie-ups for the battery business.

Unlike Tata Agratas, Amara Raja, Ola Electric and Exide Industries, which are developing both nickle manganese cobalt (NMC) and LFP technology for EV batteries, JSW decided to only bet on LFP, which has now led to the project being put on hold.