“The World is looking beyond products, it’s the solutions which will matter”- in conversation with Mr.Prashant Parida, Group Head Marketing, Okaya Power Group

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Okaya being a major player in the battery manufacturing industry , ranging from –Tubular battery for Inverter & Solar application , SMF battery , E-Rickshaw battery ; what next ?

Okaya is not only a major player in battery industry but also a pioneer in Tubular Battery domain which has widespread application in Home UPS, E-rickshaw and Solar application battery, with the life and performance far better than flat plate batteries in these select segments.

We have come in a big manner in Lithium battery segment and are acknowledged as one of the prime and major player in a shorter span of time. We are supplying to as many govt. projects, be it solar street light systems, solar projects.Going further we have our ambitious plans covering mobility segment, already 2wheeler and 3 wheeler segment Li batteries are rolled out and very shortly 4 Wheeler batteries shall be rolled out.Also keeping pace with the EV growth in the Indian market, the charging infra and new business models are bound to make in roads, one most important segment in this domain is Battery Swapping Stations , Okaya has already initiated the project execution plans in this direction.

Aiming to be the largest tubular batteries company by the year 2022 , how much did the pandemic affect your goal ?

We make plans to make a success, pandemic COVID 19 has affected whole economy globally.We are part of this global family, for us our people family, partners the big Okaya family life & safety is utmost important than anything, at the end of the day it’s the people who have to write the history.


Pandemic has just slowed down the whole economic development process but not the spirits, the live example is we notched highest sales in the month of May 2020 ever till this time comparative MOM .Post lockdown we are back with a bang, keeping all social distancing and hygiene norms & precaution in place.

Kindly enlighten us on Okaya’s Metal Green initiative.

Okaya as an organization has always believed in backward integration in all our product categories as well all manufacturing plants.We run all our plants as one of the most integrated manufacturing plants in the country giving us an edge over competition in terms of pricing and quality.Our over 98% components are indigenous and primarily manufactured under one roof.We are very much concerned about environment hence our main focus is on to recycling as much as possible.Needless to say we are in lead acid battery industry, a domain which has a capability of recycling over 98% .

All recycling norms are followed and environmental norms are adhered.The recycling is taken care within the group. All BRMS norms are followed,our country wide collection center takes care of scrap collection as well as the arrangements and is sent back to our facilities for recycling.

After bagging the prestigious “ Emerging Energy Storage Company Of The Year “ award from IESA , what is the next big leap for Okaya in the Energy Storage Space ?

Awards are motivators, we are humbled to bag IESA award for “ Emerging Energy Storage Company of the Year 2019”, the word emerging makes the whole difference, it was our announcement to the world that we have arrived and we are here to stay. We respect all our competition, we have learnt that time has come when its not only the size and scale that would matter, but who is there to provide complete energy/power back up products and solutions. World is looking beyond products, it’s the solutions which will matter.


Industry has an inherent strength of integration, expansion, scaling up and different business models within the category e.g. Battery as a captive power product for various application, battery as fuel for e rickshaw, chargers for charging requirements, again a backup for charger, if ongrid solar is a solution, offgrid is a backup, battery swapping for saving time for charging , etc etc .Okaya is present in all these domains.

According to you what are the major challenges faced by the Indian Energy Storage market and which factors could give it a greater push ?

Except lead acid battery all other are new segments, wherein still lot of R&D is underway working on different chemistries, Lithium packs cost-which is although coming down is still a big cost, Electric Vehicles battery cost which is not less than 45% of vehicle cost, charging station infra still getting in place, cost parity in all segments, logistics. Whole industry is capital and labour intensive, all these are major challenges. Quality is the only key to success.

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