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Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday, July15, inaugurated Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies’ Customer Qualification Plant in Mahabubnagar district.

With an initial capacity of 60 MWh, the facility will manufacture lithium-ion cells that customers can test and validate ahead of commercial production, Amara Raja said in a release.

Built with an investment of Rs 500 crore, the facility forms part of the company’s broader Rs 9,500 crore, 16 GWh Gigafactory programme, it said.

The facility will manufacture lithium-ion cells in cylindrical and prismatic formats, using multiple chemistries, for qualification and approval by Original Equipment Manufacturers customers across the industry, the release said.

Cells from the facility are expected to be supplied to customers for validation beginning in August 2026, it added.

Together with the advanced research and engineering centre, ePositive Energy Labs, and the upcoming Giga 1 manufacturing facility, the Customer Qualification Plant brings Amara Raja close to completing the first phase of its Giga Corridor investment in Telangana, the release said.

Lithium-ion cells are used, among other applications, to power portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles.

“As the world reconfigures energy supply chains around resilience, security and advanced manufacturing, India’s ability to develop, validate and manufacture advanced battery technologies will shape its role in the global energy transition,” Jayadev Galla, Co-founder and Chairman, Amara Raja, said.

“Our CQP is a significant step towards creating these capabilities and laying the foundation for a trusted, world-class energy ecosystem,” he added.

Describing Amara Raja as a “glocal” organisation, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said it was “trying to compete globally with local talent”.

He praised the company for drawing inspiration from countries such as China, Japan, Germany and South Korea while competing with China in the electric vehicle sector.

Highlighting that the “Telangana Rising 2047” growth story was unstoppable, he said the state government was improving infrastructure to attract more investments.

The CM said the government was carrying forward the policies introduced by the previous TDP government (1994–2004), the Congress government (2004–2014) in undivided Andhra Pradesh and the BRS government from 2014 to December 2023.

He said the government was adopting the best practices and policies of previous governments as it did not want the state to suffer from “policy paralysis”.

The state government has introduced various policies, particularly to promote industry, tourism and healthcare, as part of its “Telangana Rising 2047” initiative, he said.

Announcing that the state government was holding talks with neighbouring states on irrigation issues, Reddy said he would soon share “good news” with the people of Mahabubnagar district.

Talks were in progress to secure an allocation of 90 TMC of water for the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and 30 TMC for the Dindi project, he said. It is a medium-sized reservoir on the Dindi River, a tributary of the Krishna, near Dindi town in Telangana.