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Informist, Wednesday, May 6, 2026

By Avishek Rakshit and Ashutosh Pati

KOLKATA/MUMBAI – After raising prices by 5-6% in the March quarter, Exide Industries Ltd. has decided to pass on increasing costs from polymers and plastics to its customers every quarter to protect its margins and not take any cost pressure which may slow down its profitability.

During Jan-Mar, Exide increased battery prices by 5-6% in three tranches and followed it up with another price hike of 3% in April. During the December quarter, despite volatile commodity prices, Exide did not raise prices to pass on lower tax benefits arising from the rate cut in goods and services tax to consumers. It was done to boost demand in the aftermarket. 

"But from January onwards, we could not sustain the cost inflation of material. Therefore, we started taking price increases stage by stage. So we have been trying to pass on as much as possible of our commodity inflation," Avik Roy, managing director and chief executive officer at Exide, told sector analysts in a post-earnings call Wednesday. 

Roy said that Exide was badly hit with rising cost of raw materials, and commodity prices in April have increased from March. "Whether it's tin, whether it's sulphur, sulphuric acid, we are very, very badly hit," Roy said. "So obviously we will be watching it (commodity inflation), and going forward, we will have to take the price hikes."

However, the price hike will majorly depend on polymer and plastic costs. These two items, together with lead acid costs, account for 90% of raw material costs for Exide. Asked to what percent Exide will pass on costs to consumers, Roy said, "The short answer is this, that this year, at least quarter-on-quarter, we will pass through the non-lead price increases to the customers. The lead will be governed by the formulas that we have with at least the OEMs and industrial customers."

The price hike is not limited to the aftermarket sales, which usually bears the brunt of such hikes. While Exide enters into supply contracts with vehicle original equipment manufacturers to sell the battery that comes with the vehicle, it also sells batteries in the aftermarket.

Usually, prices with the OEMs are pre-contracted and governed by contracts. As a result, it is the aftermarket vertical--which is replacing the original car battery from normal wear and tear--which sees the price increase. 

However, Roy said that Exide has reached out to OEMs trying to convince them about the necessity to revise OEM prices in the past and will do so in the coming months as well if necessary.

"We have been able to make our customers, OEMs, agree to a certain amount of price increases. We have given them evidences that how we are suffering and some of them has been extremely logical and they gave us price correction last year," Roy said. "Having said that, we have again approached them."

Roy said that in the current financial year, Exide is targeting to take up the share of exports to its total revenue to 8% which it used to be a year back before global disruptions like the US' tariffs, US-Israel's war on Iran, and other factors kicked in. Currently, exports account for 5% of Exide's revenues. 

"I see a substantial upside for the exports because our main export markets are also in Western Europe and the US where we were targeting as a strategy," Roy said. 

At 1436 IST, shares of Exide traded 2.3% lower at INR 353.00 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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