August 11, 2022: Lead recycler Gravita India is eyeing opportunities to further expand its operations outside India, the company’s CEO revealed on August 3.
Yogesh Malhotra said in a first-quarter earnings conference call the company was looking for opportunities in evolving or developing economies.
Malholtra said Gravita believed growth in the lead battery recycling business was more likely in those regions, rather than trying to expand into the mature European or US markets — which he said were “already saturated” and where battery companies already have effective recycling arrangements in place.
“There are much better opportunities in evolving and developing countries, which are also growing at a much faster pace than Europe and the US,” Malholtra said.
He said the total capacity for smelting and refining lead across the Gravita group is 168,000 tonnes — with about 118,000 tonnes of that capacity in India.
Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 was around Rs630 crores ($80 million), an increase of 41% on year-to-year basis on the back of increased sales of lead and aluminium. Overseas business, which translates to better margins, contributed 42% to revenues.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was just under Rs65 crore, an increase of 73% on a year-on-year basis from Rs37 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Gravita told BESB in June 2019 that it had started commercial production of lead in Ghana and Tanzania — with the aim of supplying European markets.
Last December, the company announced the opening of a new battery recycling plant at Mundra Port in the Indian state of Gujarat.