The battery manufacturing industry is among the most valuable and fastest-growing in today’s global market; and it is also one that will determine the future of entire nations. Far from being  consumer products for sale, batteries will serve as the backbone of future economies’ energy grids. As such, exclusive ownership of the intellectual property rights to and production capabilities of batteries should be treated as matters of utmost importance. India is one of the countries that should take heed of this and dedicate more attention to the development of its domestic industry. 

Already in today’s age, control over the production and flow of energy is a measure of the potential a country has for economic development. Public utilities like water, gas and electricity, communications systems, and certain means of transportation – that is, the gears of the economy and people’s everyday lives – are powered by national energy grids. 

As renewable energy plants become more and more widely used, the safe and efficient storage of energy with the various applications of batteries will also grow in importance. India’s already declared goals for achieving energy transition in the close future forecasts an economy that will rely on batteries to a great extent. 

From the generation of electricity through the production of vehicles to daily applications, battery technology will be weaved into the fabric of the entire country. India’s vast territory will invite the use of batteries in powering microgrids, finally taking electricity to remote communities in the deep rural areas of the country. They will also stabilize the flow of electricity in large cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, which often see outages due to persisting energy deficit.  

India’s development objectives of improving the quality of its soil and air will attract the use of more and more electric scooters, cars, buses, and trains, all running on smaller batteries and projected to decrease pollution dramatically. Beyond these civilian applications, batteries will likely provide the energy requirements embedded in India’s national architecture more broadly. 

Whoever controls batteries will therefore control a substantial part of India itself. 

As India is just beginning to lay down the foundations of its nascent battery production industry, strategic decisions for collaboration should be judged with utmost care and treated as an issue cutting to the country’s core. 

China, with its massive lithium-ion battery production capabilities, is a point in case. For instance, recent news has reported Reliance Industries entering into a licensing agreement with Chinese battery producer Hithium Energy Storage, a company with close ties to both the Chinese Communist Party and its military, so much so that legislation was passed in Washington forbidding Hithium from contracting with the U.S. Department of Defense. A potential business arrangement between Hithium and Reliance means that a major Indian company integral to the future of the energy industry and closely roped into India’s defence industry would become susceptible to foreign influence.  

Reliance Defence, a part of the Reliance Group, is one of the largest producers of aircraft modules, ships and ammunition in India. Chinese licensing agreements routinely overpower partner producers by controlling the sourcing of materials which often need to come from the PRC, the design of production lines, and the very blueprints for the chemistry and engineering of batteries. Whether through the collaboration of Hithium and Reliance or other firms, India’s domestic battery production could become a subsidiary of a foreign company at best. 

The centrality of battery technology to future power grids, vehicles and the military raises other potential concerns about integrating and importing Chinese technology in this field. China’s deepening ties with Pakistan through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, infrastructure development, as well as the production of fighter aircraft and drones should sound alarm bells. The recent military tensions between India and Pakistan in the first half of 2025 suggest that the latter is unlikely to be removed from the pedestal as India’s primary adversary and threat to its security. The geopolitical competition between China and India, which increasingly affects the nationals political and economic strategies of both countries is another element of the risk posed by using Chinese battery technology. 

Secure supply chains, fail-proof security protocols, and exclusive rights to making modifications to batteries are the cornerstones of a sovereign energy industry in India. At critical junctures in international affairs, when a crisis demands the swift and flexible adjustment of economic strategies, a battery-powered country must be able to control the entirety of its grid to rebalance production, power emergency services and have complete trust in the tools in service of its security establishment. From a cybersecurity perspective, batteries could become the ultimate weapons, without a single shot being fired, capable of shutting down an entire economy and government. 

As India’s energy industry is intertwined with the country’s sovereignty, the question is not if the influence of foreign powers in the production of such critical infrastructure matters, but to what extent India is willing to let any country, China or otherwise, take a stake in it. Battery production should be elevated to the highest level of national security today. Forward-looking government policies should focus on enabling and encouraging development and economic growth, as well as protecting the country from acute security threats. In the case of India, these areas are already deeply intertwined.