Plugged Into China: Why Reliance Can't Build Its Battery Empire Without Beijing

Last year, Reliance Industries quietly dispatched hundreds of executives and engineers to China. They fanned out across industrial hubs like Shenzhen and Wuxi, with a single urgent mission to secure critical equipment for a massive battery factory back home before Beijing's new export controls kicked in. The team had just over a month. Every day counted.

What they were trying to do is just make sure that the machines they need are first manufactured in time and, once they're manufactured, that they actually pass customs and are put on ships moving towards India, according to a Bloomberg report.

This frantic operation captures, in miniature, a much larger challenge facing Reliance as it bets big on clean energy, one that keeps circling back to the same uncomfortable truth, that, for batteries, India needs China.

Scale of Reliance's Green Bet

Reliance's battery gigafactory at the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat, is set to begin production in 2026 with an initial annual capacity of 40 GWh, later scaling to 100 GWh. The complex spans 44 million square feet, roughly four times the size of Tesla's Gigafactory.

The Jamnagar energy storage complex, set to be India's biggest, is central to Chairman Mukesh Ambani's ambitions to position Reliance as a dominant force in the country's clean energy transition. The facility is expected to play a critical role in bolstering India's electricity grid as the country rapidly scales up renewable power capacity toward a 500-gigawatt target by 2030.

By the end of 2035, the Indian energy storage market is projected to expand to 336.7 GWh, 115 times the cumulative installations in 2025, according to BloombergNEF. Reliance wants a dominant slice of that market. But to get there, it needs batteries and batteries means China.

Why China Is Unavoidable

China's grip on the global battery industry is not just significant, it is near-total. Chinese firms control over 70% of the world's electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, dominating every critical stage from raw mineral processing to finished cells. No other country comes close.

When Reliance initially planned to make lithium-ion battery cells domestically, it turned to Chinese firm Xiamen Hithium Energy Storage Technology, a major producer of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cell, for technology licensing. The deal fell apart. Beijing had been steadily tightening controls on the overseas transfer of sensitive battery technologies, and the agreement could not be finalised.

Japan, Europe, and South Korea were explored as alternatives. They were found to be substantially more expensive for large-scale deployment in India, a dealbreaker for a project operating at gigafactory scale.

From Making to Assembling

The collapse of the Hithium deal forced a significant change in strategy. Instead of manufacturing battery cells from scratch, Reliance has shifted its near-term focus to assembling Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), large, containerised storage units, primarily for its own renewable energy projects.

Assembling pre-made cells is far less technically complex, and far less lucrative, than producing cells. It also means deeper dependence on Chinese supply chains rather than independence from them.

Now, Reliance is in talks with the world's largest battery manufacturer, CATL, and other global suppliers to procure components for these systems, according to a recent report by Bloomberg. The talks could give Reliance a second major source of battery components at Jamnagar, supplementing its existing ties to Hithium, which have run into roadblocks in recent months.

Other Indian conglomerates are also looking to tap Chinese battery expertise. Notably, Gautam Adani visited CATL's headquarters in China last year and toured its automated energy storage production lines. The pattern is clear that India's biggest industrial houses are all making the same calculation.

CATL's Own Interests

This isn't a one-sided relationship. CATL is accelerating its global expansion, building out manufacturing in Europe with plants in Germany, Hungary and Spain, and is now pushing into energy storage systems to diversify beyond electric vehicle batteries. After targeting Europe and navigating US barriers through technology licensing with Ford and Tesla, CATL is looking to tap new markets, including the fast-growing opportunity in large battery systems in India

Notably, the pause in cell manufacturing does not immediately hurt Reliance's finances. The company still derives most of its revenue from oil refining, petrochemicals, and consumer businesses. But it does expose the limits of India's green energy ambitions when core technologies remain out of reach.

India lacks an end-to-end domestic supply chain for battery components. Until that changes, companies like Reliance will have to keep navigating China's tightening export control regime.