Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage

What is the PLI Scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage?

The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for the National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage is a central scheme of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, approved by the Union Cabinet on 12 May 2021. According to the Ministry of Heavy Industries, the scheme has a total outlay of Rs 18,100 crore and aims to build gigawatt-scale battery cell manufacturing in India.

The scheme exists to strengthen the ecosystem for electric mobility and grid-scale battery storage, both of which currently depend on imported cells. It rewards companies that set up large ACC manufacturing plants in India and steadily raise the share of value added domestically.

Main objectives

• Establish 50 GWh of domestic Advanced Chemistry Cell manufacturing capacity.
• Reduce import dependence for EV and stationary battery storage.
• Drive maximum domestic value addition in cell manufacturing.
• Support India's electric-mobility and clean-energy goals.

How much does the scheme provide, and on what conditions?

Selected companies receive incentives over the performance period, tied to committed capacity and domestic value addition. According to the Ministry of Heavy Industries, a beneficiary firm must:

• Achieve domestic value addition of at least 25% within two years, rising to 60% within five years.
• Make a committed investment of Rs 225 crore per GWh within two years for its committed capacity.

The scheme runs on a defined timeline:

Why does India need domestic ACC manufacturing?

Advanced Chemistry Cells are the core building block of every lithium-ion battery, and until this scheme almost all cells used in India were imported. Because cells make up the largest share of the cost of an electric vehicle and of a grid-scale storage system, importing them means importing most of the value. The ACC PLI scheme addresses that in three ways:

• It ties the largest incentives to firms that manufacture cells from the ground up rather than assembling imported cells into packs.
• It forces the share of value added in India to rise over time, from a floor of 25% to 60% within five years.
• It concentrates support on a small number of gigawatt-scale plants, so India builds globally cost-competitive capacity rather than many sub-scale units.

This is why the scheme is a company incentive and not a citizen benefit, it can only be delivered through large manufacturers making a multi-thousand-crore investment commitment.

What has been awarded so far?

According to the Ministry of Heavy Industries, 40 GWh of Advanced Chemistry Cell capacity has been awarded across four projects in three states. Ola Cell Technologies holds the largest single award at 20 GWh in Tamil Nadu. Reliance New Energy Battery Ltd holds 10 GWh in Gujarat and Reliance New Energy Battery Storage Ltd a further 5 GWh in Gujarat. ACC Energy Storage holds 5 GWh in Karnataka. Programme agreements have been signed with each firm, and the balance of the original 50 GWh target has been reviewed and re-bid in parts as capacity was reallocated.

Progress on the ground has been slower than the paper awards suggest. The beneficiary firms had together invested about Rs 5,180 crore and created roughly 1,277 direct jobs as on 31 May 2026, and only about 1 GWh of capacity had been physically commissioned, by Ola Cell Technologies. Because incentives under the scheme are paid only against verified sales from commissioned capacity, no beneficiary had claimed an incentive payout by mid-2026. The plants that would generate those claims are still being built. This is normal for a manufacturing PLI with a two-year gestation period, but it also underlines why the scheme cannot deliver anything to an individual: the money flows only after a company physically manufactures and sells cells in India.

The incentive is technology-agnostic: the scheme does not mandate any single battery chemistry, so beneficiaries are free to manufacture the cell chemistry that best fits demand, provided they meet the capacity, investment and domestic value-addition milestones. This design lets Indian manufacturers keep pace with fast-changing global battery technology instead of being locked into one chemistry.

Who is eligible for the ACC Battery Storage PLI Scheme?

A company could apply if it:

• Is registered in India and bids to set up gigawatt-scale ACC manufacturing.
• Meets the net-worth and financial-capability conditions in the bid documents.
• Commits to the Rs 225 crore per GWh investment and the 25%-to-60% domestic value-addition roadmap.

You are not eligible if:

• You are an individual, EV owner or job seeker seeking a personal grant — this is a company incentive scheme with no individual benefit of any kind.
• Your project cannot meet the committed capacity, investment or value-addition conditions.
• You are applying now for the original allotment: capacity has already been awarded through competitive bidding.

Anyone offering personal "ACC battery PLI registration" to individuals for a fee is running a scam, the scheme has no citizen application.

How to apply for the ACC Battery Storage PLI Scheme

The scheme has no citizen application; selection is through competitive bidding run by the Ministry of Heavy Industries:

1. Study the request-for-proposal documents and scheme guidelines on the Ministry of Heavy Industries PLI-ACC portal.
2. Register as a bidder and prepare the detailed project report, net-worth proof and manufacturing plan with a domestic value-addition roadmap.
3. Submit the competitive bid, with committed capacity and the required bank guarantee.
4. Selected firms sign a programme agreement and complete the two-year gestation period, making the committed Rs 225 crore per GWh investment.
5. During the five-year performance period, beneficiaries claim incentives against verified sales, capacity and domestic value addition.

What is the status of the scheme?

The scheme is in its performance period, which runs to 31 December 2029, with 40 GWh awarded across the four beneficiary firms named above. Land acquisition for the awarded capacity has been completed, but most of the plants are still under construction, which is why disbursements had not begun by mid-2026. The ministry has reviewed the programme and re-bid parts of the original 50 GWh target where capacity was reallocated.

Because awards and re-bids change as firms meet or miss their milestones, confirm the latest status directly with the Ministry of Heavy Industries before acting, and do not rely on any third party promising personal enrolment.

How does the ACC scheme differ from other battery incentives?

The ACC Battery Storage PLI is a manufacturing incentive for the cells themselves. It is distinct from demand-side EV incentives, which subsidise the purchase or use of electric vehicles, and from schemes that support charging infrastructure. The ACC scheme sits at the base of the supply chain: it pays manufacturers to make cells in India so that downstream battery packs, EVs and storage systems can be built on domestically produced cells.

For a company evaluating the scheme, the practical questions are whether it can commit the Rs 225 crore per GWh investment within two years, whether it can lift domestic value addition to 60% within five years, and whether it can win capacity through competitive bidding. Firms that cannot meet those thresholds are better served by other parts of the battery and EV ecosystem rather than the ACC PLI.

Help and how to verify

• Official information and guidelines: the Ministry of Heavy Industries PLI-ACC pages.
• Programme announcements and awards: PIB press releases.

There is no citizen helpline because there is no individual application. Treat any message, call or website that asks an individual to "register" or pay a fee for the ACC battery PLI as fraudulent, and verify every claim against the Ministry of Heavy Industries before acting on it.

How to check your application status

There is no citizen-facing application or status portal for this scheme, so this section is for a company already selected as a beneficiary, or one that has submitted a competitive bid, not for an individual. A bidding company can track where it stands in three ways.

• Programme agreement status: once a bid is accepted, the Ministry of Heavy Industries signs a programme agreement with the firm. The firm's own compliance team, not a public portal, tracks whether this agreement has been signed and whether the gestation-period milestones (the Rs 225 crore per GWh investment, land acquisition, plant construction) are being met on schedule.
• Incentive claim status: during the five-year performance period, a beneficiary firm files incentive claims against verified sales from commissioned capacity. The Ministry of Heavy Industries reviews and processes these claims directly with the company; there is no self-service tracking number or SMS-based status check, because claims are tied to audited sales and capacity verification rather than a simple application ID.
• Public award status: for the scheme's overall progress (how much of the 50 GWh target is awarded, which firms hold which capacity, how much capacity has actually been commissioned), the Ministry of Heavy Industries' PLI-ACC portal and PIB press releases are the authoritative public sources. This is useful for tracking the scheme itself, not an individual bid.

A firm that has bid but not yet heard back should follow up directly with the Ministry of Heavy Industries through the channel specified in the bid documents, since the scheme has no public helpline or online status tool for pending bids. Anyone outside a bidding company claiming they can "check your ACC PLI application status" for a fee is not connected to any real process; the ministry deals only with the bidding firm itself.

Common reasons for rejection

Because this is a competitive bid among large manufacturers rather than a form-based application, rejections happen at the bid stage or during the gestation period, and the reasons are different from a typical citizen scheme.

• Insufficient net worth or financial capability: bid documents set minimum net-worth and financial-capability thresholds to prove a company can fund gigawatt-scale manufacturing. A bidder whose audited financial statements fall short of these thresholds is rejected at evaluation. The fix is to bid jointly with a financially stronger partner or to bid for a smaller capacity slab that matches the firm's real financial capacity, rather than over-bidding.
• Weak or incomplete detailed project report: a project report that does not credibly show how the committed capacity, the domestic value-addition roadmap, and the manufacturing timeline fit together is marked non-compliant. The fix is to have the technical and financial plan reviewed by manufacturing and battery-chemistry experts before submission, so it survives the ministry's technical evaluation rather than being rejected on paper.
• Missing or inadequate bank guarantee: the scheme requires a bank guarantee as part of the bid to demonstrate seriousness of commitment. A bid submitted without the guarantee in the form and value specified in the bid documents is disqualified on a technical ground, regardless of the strength of the rest of the proposal. The fix is to arrange the guarantee from the bank before the bid submission deadline, not after.
• Failure to meet gestation-period milestones after selection: selection is not the end of scrutiny. A firm that is awarded capacity but fails to make the committed Rs 225 crore per GWh investment within the two-year gestation period, or fails to complete land acquisition and construction on schedule, risks having its allotted capacity reviewed and reallocated, as has already happened with parts of the original 50 GWh target. The fix is to treat the gestation-period timeline as binding from the day the programme agreement is signed, not as a soft target.
• Domestic value-addition shortfall during the performance period: a beneficiary that commissions capacity but cannot show at least 25% domestic value addition within two years, rising to 60% within five years, will not qualify for incentive payouts on its sales for that period even though its plant is running. The fix is to build the domestic supplier and component base for cathode, anode and cell-manufacturing inputs well before the value-addition deadlines bite, not after a shortfall is flagged.

None of these apply to an individual. There is no personal document, form or ID that can be "rejected" under this scheme, because there is no individual application in the first place.