Gurugram, (Haryana) [India], September 4 (ANI): Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology Aswhini Vaishnaw, on Thursday, hailed the inauguration of Amperex Technology Limited (Atl)'s advanced Lithium-Ion cell manufacturing facility in Haryana's Gurugram as a landmark moment in India's journey toward self-reliance in electronics manufacturing.

The facility will produce Indian-manufactured Lithium-Ion batteries used in mobile phones, hearables, and wearables, such as watches, earbuds, AirPods, and laptops.

Calling it a step toward Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Vaishnaw said to the reporters, 'This is indeed a very important milestone for us. We are fulfilling PM's dream of having 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' in electronics manufacturing step-by-step. We are starting the production of every component that goes into electronics manufacturing.'

The Minister highlighted the recent first Made in India chip presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'We have seen recently that the first Made in India chip was presented to the PM. Similarly, today, Lithium-Ion batteries used in mobile phones, hearables and wearables like watches, earbuds, airpods and laptops will be now manufactured in India in this very advanced Plant of TDK, it's called ATL. It's a very advanced Plant and this Plant will be manufacturing about 200 million battery packs every year,' Vaishnaw said.

India's annual demand for mobile phone batteries is estimated at around 50 crore cellpacks. According to Vaishnaw, this single plant will cater to nearly 40% of that demand. 'Our requirement for the country in the mobile phone sector is about 50 crore cellpacks, which are required every year. So that means about 40% of the capacity will be met by this factory. This factory has a huge expansion scope,' he added.

The Minister also credited the state government for enabling the project's success. 'I would like to thank the Government of Haryana for giving so much support to this factory, and this is part of our electronics manufacturing cluster scheme (EMC scheme) of the Government of India,' Vaishnaw said.

'As you are aware, step-by-step, practically every component is now going to be manufactured in our country, whether it is a camera module, PCB assembly, semiconductors and batteries, every component will be manufactured in our country over the next few years,' the Minister added.

The ATL Plant is also expected to create large-scale employment opportunities. Vaishnaw said, 'This Plant is going to give direct employment to about 5000 people. The training has been done meticulously at the ATL Plant. This kind of advanced technology coming to India is a major milestone for us.' (ANI)