Saft Recharges its Commitment to India on the Eve of Centennial Milestone

Saft, the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of advanced technology batteries for industry for a century, renewed its focus on India on the eve of its centennial celebrations. Saft completed the purchase of shares from its JV partner AMCO to establish Saft India to reinforce its partnership with Indian industries. 

“At Saft, we are exceptionally proud of our history. When we look at the past 100 years, we have always been at the forefront of creating the future technologies. Our batteries and systems have helped industries around the world with critical safety applications, back-up power and propulsion. We are increasing our focus on India now as Saft India to support the Indian government, the Make in India program and Indian industries. We look forward to accelerating our growth here,” said Franck Cecchi, Executive Vice President, Industrial Standby Division Chairman of the Board of Saft India.

Saft has been present in India from early 1900s through Stone, UK, which helped to build Indian Railway operations. In 2006, the company began manufacturing in India through a joint venture with AMCO.  Since then, Saft has been powering India’s critical space missions by ISRO, safe transportation through metros in Delhi, Uttar Pradhesh, Calcutta, Bangalore and Chennai, as well as building presence in telecom and standby power for industry. After 11 years of continuous growth in the Indian market with nickel-based technology, Saft acquired the remaining 49 percent of the joint venture company.

“We would like to thank AMCO for their contribution to the growth of the joint venture, which has proven to be a successful partnership since 2006. Now, we are looking to strengthen our leadership position in India with an increased focus on rail, telecom and infrastructure. That is why we are increasing our investment in our plant, in both lithium-ion and nickel technologies This will allow us to continue to be more responsive to the needs of our Indian customers,” said Guy-Patrick de Broglie, GM Saft India.

2018 marks Saft’s 100th anniversary in business. For a century, Saft has designed, developed and manufactured battery systems to get energy to where customers need it - be that on land, at sea, in the air, or in space. Saft is a fully owned subsidiary of Total, a leading international oil and gas company and a major player in low-carbon energies. More than 3,000 industrial customers worldwide rely on Saft batteries for their long life and ability to function in the most extreme conditions. Today, Saft employs 4,300 people in 18 countries. The company has research centers in France and the US, where it has a particularly strong footprint, and 14 manufacturing sites and 30 sales offices across the world.

At 100 years: Saft is focusing on the battery technology of the future. Saft is working with partners on an ambitious program of research, development and industrialization for new generations of batteries focusing on advanced high-density lithium-ion and Solid-State technology. The seven-year innovation program addresses all market segments, such as electro-mobility (EV, e-Bus, Railway, Marine, Aviation), energy storage and specialty industries. These new generation batteries will provide performance, cost and safety advantages, compared to current lithium-ion products. The batteries, which will be perfectly integrated into their system environments, with digitalized functions and interfaces, are planned to be designed together with leading material suppliers. They will meet the most stringent standards for sustainable development.