An assembly line at a subsidiary of Dixon Technologies, an Indian contract manufacturer of electronics.
Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/BloombergChina’s Control Over Tech Is Threatening India’s Manufacturing Dreams
India’s biggest companies are struggling to break Beijing’s grip on production of batteries, EVs and critical minerals.
Late last year, hundreds of executives and engineers from Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s biggest company, fanned out across Wuxi and other cities in China. The goal: getting up to $1.1 billion worth of equipment exported to kit out Reliance’s planned battery plant — the country’s most significant attempt to manufacture the advanced lithium-ion cells that power electric vehicles and renewable energy storage systems.
Yet as senior company executives pushed suppliers and regulators to get the machines manufactured and past customs, Beijing dropped a diktat tightening controls on key battery-making technology and equipment. Reliance’s deal with its Chinese partner to help build the battery plant had hit a new roadblock. Despite the expensive machinery now sitting in Jamnagar in Gujarat state, where Reliance’s gigafactory is located, commercial production cannot begin anytime soon without further access to Chinese technology. Reliance did not respond to a request for comment.