Chemicals Billionaire Vivek Jain Is Positioning His InoxGFL Group To Cash In On The EV Batteries Boom

This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of India’s Richest 2023. See the full list here.

Chemicals tycoon Vivek Jain, chairman of InoxGFL Group, is positioning the company to tap global demand for electric vehicles with new factories for making key chemicals used in EV batteries. The global market for EV batteries is forecast to grow at a 20% annual compounded rate through 2027 and touch $135 billion, according to Pune-based consulting firm MarketsandMarkets Research.

Jain’s flagship Gujarat Fluorochemicals (GFL), which makes fluoropolymers used in everything from EVs to semiconductors and 5G networks, is investing 50 billion rupees ($600 million) over the next three years in an integrated chemicals complex in the western state of Gujarat. First up will be plants for making electrolytes and lithium salt—crucial for making lithium ion batteries—that are expected to be commissioned in October. “GFL is poised to become a preferred supplier as large electric vehicle battery capacities are set up in India, Europe, and the U.S.,” Devansh Jain, Vivek’s son and an executive director at the group says by email. “We are developing high-quality electrolytes aimed at enhancing the overall capabilities and longevity of electric vehicle batteries.”

Jain expects the expansion to help double group revenue over the next three to four years to 140 billion rupees from 70 billion rupees in the year ended March 2023. The younger son of patriarch and Inox group founder Devendra Jain, Vivek got the chemicals and renewable energy businesses after a family division, with the industrial gas and cinema multiplex businesses being allocated to older brother Pavan. Vivek, who was listed with his brother last year, makes a solo appearance at No. 81 with a net worth of $2.9 billion.