PLI scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell batteries
Also called: PLI for ACC batteries, ACC battery PLI · Topic: Industrial Policy, Public Sector, MSMEs and Disinvestment · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The PLI scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries is a government scheme to get more battery cells made inside India. An advanced chemistry cell is a modern battery cell, such as a lithium-ion cell. These cells power electric vehicles (EVs) and store electricity for the power grid. Like every production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, it pays firms only for output they actually make and sell. It does not pay for building the factory. This matters because India wants to make its own EV batteries instead of importing them. The scheme is part of the wider PLI push, which began in 2020-21.
Example
A company builds a cell factory in India. It gets no incentive money while the factory is being built. Once the factory starts selling cells, it earns an incentive on those sales. To make the cells, the factory needs refined lithium and nickel. The ₹2,814-crore processing scheme approved in 2026 aims to supply these from Indian refineries.
Don't confuse with
- Capex support scheme: this pays part of the cost of building a plant before it produces anything. An example is the ₹2,814-crore lithium–nickel processing scheme (2026). The ACC PLI pays only after cells are produced and sold, so the risk of a plant that underperforms stays with the firm, not the taxpayer.
- Critical mineral processing: this means refining the raw materials (lithium, nickel) that go into a battery. The ACC PLI is about the later step, making the cells themselves.