Exide has been the leading battery brand in India for decades. It has been the major supplier of batteries to the automobile sector in India since the days the latter was at its infancy. Over the period of time it has evolved into a reliable and widely known battery brand in India. Exide has grown steadily, modernised its manufacturing processes and taken initiatives on the service front. Constant innovations have helped the company to produce the world’s largest range of industrial batteries covering various technology configurations.
The company manufactures the widest range of storage batteries in the world from 2.5 Ah to 20,400 Ah capacity, covering the broadest spectrum of applications. The company has also recently forayed into manufacture and sale of home UPS/inverters. The company has seven battery manufacturing facilities located all across India – three in Maharashtra, two in West Bengal, one in Tamil Nadu and one in Haryana. In addition, the company also has two home UPS/ inverter manufacturing facilities in Uttarakhand.
Exide separated from its UK-based parent, Chloride Group Plc., in 1989 after the latter divested its ownership in favour of a group of Indian shareholders. Thus it received the current name of the company as Exide Industries Ltd in August 1995. Exide is providing credible value addition to its customers, employees and shareholders while simultaneously being recognised by its consumers as a quality battery manufacturer. In future, it aims to achieve further operational excellence to address the demand and expectations of its loyal customer base.
While the lead acid battery had been invented in 1860, storage batteries began to be produced by Mather & Platt in the 1880s. The batteries – or accumulators as they were then called – followed a design in which Lead Chloride was the active material. Accordingly, then the company was christened as Chloride Electrical Storage Syndicate. One of the critical ingredients in making the plates of such a battery was oxide. Having perfected the technology, Chloride coined the brand name ‘Exide’, a derivative acronym from the term ‘Excellent Oxide’.
Chloride entered into a joint venture with the Electrical Storage Battery company of Philadelphia and began promoting the brand Exide. As a result, both Chloride and brand Exide reached far-flung parts of the globe. The company’s predecessor carried on their operations as an import house from 1916 under the name Chloride Electrical Storage company. Thereafter, the company started manufacturing storage batteries in the country and has grown to become one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of batteries in the subcontinent today.
