The Automotive Battery market is expected to grow at CAGR of 7 percent by 2027. With the tremendous growth in per-capita income of Indians, there is more disposable income in the hands of its citizens. This has led to a sharp increase in the sales of automobiles, particularly the two wheelers, Passenger Vehicles and Commercial Vehicles. To add to it, India is currently positioned at number four in the overall Automotive Production across the globe. One of the major factors driving the growth of the Automotive Battery Market is 'Rising Infrastructure and Increase in Income'.
While the COVID-19 lockdown slowed down the growth in Automobile sales, slowly Economy is getting back to pre-COVID days, and there will be huge demand for Vehicles thereby increasing the sales of batteries for these vehicles as well. With the vision to be a recognized as the third largest player and top technology provider in the Indian automotive battery industry by 2025-26, TATA Green Batteries is an automotive and 2-wheeler battery brand that has now become a household name across the country.
Born out of a joint venture between TATA AutoComp, One of the leading Auto Component Player in India and GS-YUASA, world’s largest 2-Wheeler Battery Manufacturer and Asia’s largest automotive battery manufacturer, TATA AutoComp GY Batteries is built on TATA’s Trust and Advanced Technology from GS-YUASA, Japan. With TATA being the most reputed brand in India, the firm leverages its brand positioning to improve its presence in the battery market and it positions its technology partner to provide cutting-edge technology products to consumers.
A Powerhouse Of Unique Offerings
With its state-of-the-art manufacturing unit based out of Ranjangaon, Pune, TATA Green Batteries is known for producing a wide range of batteries using advanced battery manufacturing technology. The brand is renowned for addressing the battery demands amid the OEMs and after-market covering vehicle segments including Passenger Cars, Utility Vehicles, Tractors, Commercial vehicles, E-rickshaws, Inverters, Gen-sets, and Off-Highway applications.
Recently, the firm has introduced a new vertical of ‘Industrial Battery Business’, which is aimed at catering to battery demand of Data Centers, UPS, Power Plants, Motive Power and Telecom segments. While the Invincible Trust of Tata, Advanced technology from GS YUASA and Distinctive customer service gives TATA Green Batteries an edge over its competitors, what really sets it ahead in the market is its Best in Class warranty, Longer Battery Life, Highest cranking power - providing Instant start always, Strong vibration resistance, Paperless warranty, hassle free service to end customers and trust of major OEMs in both the Automotive and 2-Wheeler segment.
“We meet our customer expectations through various initiatives pertaining to Quality, Cost, and Delivery. At TATA Green Batteries, we have leveraged Digitization tools to provide prompt After-sales support. Initiatives like Paperless Warranty System ensures a hassle-free battery replacement experience for the end users. We have also deployed system of remote adjudication of batteries which monitors the battery parameters and checks for any issues from remote locations. The prime focus of these initiatives is to reduce the turn-around time for resolving customer issues. It not only helps us to improve customer satisfaction but also increases brand share”, shares Ravi Gupta, CEO, TATA Green Batteries.
Today, with 17 warehouses across India, TATA Green Batteries is into B2C & B2B businesses, with these warehouses helping in the distribution of these batteries to distributors retailers, and in turn deliver it to end customers. It also helps in delivering batteries with utmost quality standards and ensure delivery within the stipulated time frame.
‘People Are The Most Valued Asset At TATA Green Batteries
The unique people management strategy of the firm has played a key role in helping TGY grow multifold. This revolves around five cornerstones - Talent Management, Learning and Development, HR Automation, Industrial Relations and Employee Engagement. “Through talent management, we create next generation cadre building programs which are designed for fresh engineering, management and diploma pass-outs. We train them and after gaining significant experience, they assume higher positions within the organization. We also create succession planning models for critical positions.
For the learning and development process, we have developed an online training platform for entire workforce including contractual employees. Through unique experience of animated video modules, the team gets clear understanding of Battery Industry and different nuances of it. For the plant workforce, we have also developed ‘DOJO Room’ - an experiential learning center, which provides hands on learning on Company, Products, Processes, Manufacturing Practices, Maintenance Practices, on the job training, Evaluation, Assessment and Certification. We have deployed training kiosks which provides all the resources to employees to learn about Safety & Manufacturing processes”, explains Ravi.
Being an emerging industry leader, over the years, TATA Green Batteries has transitioned from manual operations to digitization and an automation-based environment. The company has developed an employee connect app which acts as a one-stop solution for our mobile sales and customer support workforce. It ensures all the activities performed by sales personnel are captured accordingly in the app right from attendance, customer visits, sales reports and beat plan. One of the unique digitization initiative taken is ‘Artificial Intelligence-based Chatbot’ to solve the queries of employees on HR Policies. To top it up, we apply analytic solutions for effective working.
The Milestones
TATA Green Batteries faced headwinds in business until 2016-17. In 2017-18, the firm took the challenge and set the year with mantra 'Go! TGY Go!' and eventually, it did the turnaround with double digit growth in top line in the 1st year itself. This was significantly higher than the market growth of eight percent. Product Modifications, Rationalizing Price positions, aligning OEM and Aftermarket strategy, Re-organization, Increasing depth and width of distribution, Cost-saving initiatives in operations and vendor base consolidation were the cornerstones for its success.
In 2018-19, TATA Green Batteries set the mantra 'Charge! TGY Charge!' with the objective of increasing distribution reach, adding new OEMs, improving productivity, reducing rejections and investing in people. The company evolved an innovative purchase strategy for lead, which is the most critical raw material for battery manufacturing and upgraded aftermarket support by leveraging digitization and empowering all stakeholders. Continuous Employee Engagement Programs and a strong relationship with the labor union had helped us a great deal in the endeavour of the firm to register profitable growth. With all efforts and from all directions, TATA Green Batteries was able to grow its top line by double digit percentage and bottom line by manifold.
In 2019-20, the JV Partners reposed strong confidence in TATA Green Batteries and committed sustainable investment over the next few years to help in getting new technologies and enhancing brand vitality. TATA Green Batteries took it upon themselves to meet the expectations and therefore called 2019-20 mantra as 'Rise! TGY Rise!'.
In FY 2020-21, the year was challenging for all on both professional as well as personal front. It posed various challenges for business in the first three months of the financial year. Given this tough scenario, the firm aptly adapted the mantra: ‘Strive, TGY Strive!’.
TATA Green Batteries took this COVID-19 pandemic challenge as an opportunity to build its footprint in the market through distinct customer support initiatives like Free battery check-up camp in societies and implementation of Paperless warranty system. One of the biggest achievements in this year was ‘Record breaking highest ever sales in After Market and OEM’, backed up by strong foundation of Operations, Quality, Purchase and Human Resources. The firm continued to make investments in technology and capacity expansion, which resulted in boosting confidence in the market by fulfilling the demand.
On Digitization front, TATA Green Batteries developed ‘We care’ App for health monitoring of employees, launched online training portal for modules on ‘Basics of Battery and Distribution Management’ and build significant presence in online communication through social media platforms. Having successfully overcome challenges in FY 20- 21, FY 21-22 opened up lots of opportunities. For TGY, it was year of transformation, as the firm significantly created milestones in terms of financials and sales. “We had already come a long way on our investment plans since previous year, there was n’t any scope for us to take our eyes off our ambitious growth plans.
Even in the backdrop of highly challenging COVID-19 environment, we continued to gallop ahead in our pursuit to have Full Technology play in all possible customer segments, which enabled us to become the clear #3 player in Indian automotive battery industry. We leaped in all facets of business to drive growth, therefore rightly capturing our mantra for FY 21-22 as Leap TGY Leap!’, shares Ravi. Over the last year, we have embarked on ‘4S Mantra’, as coined by TATA Group Chairman, which talks about Simplify, Synergy, Scale and Speed. With continuous sustaining efforts, we were recognized as ‘Best Brands 2021’ by The Economic Times. We have leveraged digitization and lead this journey across all functions. Our efforts in digitization have been recognized by various industrial bodies like CII, ACMA, CII-ITC Centre for Sustainable Development and major automotive OEMs.
Ensuring A Sustainable Approach
Owing to its rich parentage from TATA & GS-YUASA, TATA Green Batteries has always vested strong focus on Sustainability Practices at TGY. The firm has zero tolerance towards any kind of untoward impact on the environment. “To cite an example of a practice, the recycled water from our plant is so clean that we first feed it into fish ponds in the campus which have live fish in them. Further we have deployed rain water harvesting units and planted over 400 trees this year.
Blood lead levels of employees are constantly monitored and frequent air changes are regulated along with a reduction in temperature inside plant by using a water-cooling tower thus creating an ambient work environment. We have also launched initiatives for bringing Digitization in Safety & Health area. Last but not the least, 90 percent of our battery components is recyclable. We adhere to an efficient system of recycling lead from used batteries. The manufacturing unit has solar rooftop systems and carbon footprint management which helps us further in Global Environment Conservation. Going forward, we will be front runners in Environment & Social Governance. Our goal is to reduce 40 percent of our carbon emissions by 2030, and become net zero by 2035”, concludes Ravi.
TATA Green Batteries is leading the way in Digitization across all areas of business. The biggest part of our Digital Transformation is changing the way we think
Charting The Path Ahead
TATA Green Batteries lays increasingly high emphasis on innovation. The batteries are superior in performance even in extreme weather conditions. TATA Green Battery was the first to launch a battery which could go 1,00,000 km without any top-up. The patented additives allow to manufacture batteries which not only lasts the longest but also gives the best mileage. Likewise, the distinct technical expertise in Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) technology has helped us in offering the finest battery for 2-wheeler applications in India. “Further with world class technology of GS-YUASA and the global customer relationship of both JV partners, we are able to offer new products to the OEMs at shortest time. This has helped us in becoming a preferred supplier to most OEMs. We also adopt Japanese practices such as Kaizen, Jishu Hozen, Daily Work Management, Poka-yoke and Quality Circles. These practices help to manufacture batteries with world-class quality. The company has also started embarking upon its Deming Journey”, adds Ravi.
"Owing to its rich parentage from TATA & GS-YUASA, TATA Green Batteries has always vested strong focus on Sustainability Practices at TGY"
The industry trends are changing rapidly. Hence, TATA Green Batteries always takes cognizance of the changing technology and are prepared to be one of the early adopters. TATA Green Batteries possesses latest technology for making advanced batteries through Expanded Grid Technology, which will also help in showcasing Idle Start-Stop Batteries subsequently. “Our aim is to have full technology play in all segments and verticals of automotive battery sector. The company is also gearing to adopt and offer Li-Ion Technology to the Indian market at an appropriate time”, signs-off Ravi.
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