Exide Industries Ltd. has put on hold its proposed smelter plant for recycling lead from battery scrap through a joint venture with the Malaysian Reclamation Industry. "The smelter plant project has been put on the backburner for the time being," company sources said here.
The decision, the sources said, was taken in view of the downward fluctuations of lead price in the international market and reduction of duty on the metal, posing viability risk for the project.
Exide had planned to set up the smelter plant in India through a joint venture with MRI, had almost finalized investments and capacity for the plant after the lead prices witnessed a steady increase.
Besides MRI, the company also had obtained a proposal from a Russian firm in this regard.
"We were not interested in the proposal from the Russian firm. But for the JV with MRI, we had made up our mind. But now we have to make provisions so as to absorb the impact of any wide fluctuation of lead prices," the sources said.
The company would also have to chalk out a flaw-less logistics plan for collecting scraps from various locations. "Unless these are in place, we cannot do much about the proposed venture," they said. Asia Pulse