Tirupati, July 29, 2010Amara Raja Batteries Ltd, India’s leading Industrial and Automotive Battery major (BSE Code: 500008 & NSE Code: AMARAJABAT) today announced 45% growth in Net Sales at Rs.4466.27 mn as against Rs.3063.76 mn in Q1FY10. For the quarter ended June 30, 2010, Gross Sales stood at Rs.4933.49 mn compared to Rs.3525.59 mn last year, Profit Before Tax (PBT) at Rs.533.49 mn as against Rs.640.79 mn in the corresponding quarter last year and Profit After Tax (PAT) was at Rs.357.26 mn as against Rs. 425.74 mn.

Rs. in Millions
Particulars	Unaudited financials for the Quarter ended		Audited Financials for the Year ended
	31-Mar-2010	31-Mar-2009	31-Mar-2010
Gross Sales	4933.49	3525.59	16911.00
Net Sales	4466.27	3063.76	14652.00
PBT	533.49	640.79	2546.00
PAT	357.26	425.74	1670.00

The Industrial battery business has achieved significant volume growth during the quarter (YoY) with increasing market shares in the key segments of Telecom and UPS markets. While pricing challenges in Telecom resulted in margin erosion, robust volume growth in UPS and Railway segments helped the company to partially offset this impact. The company expects the pricing and volume pressure to continue, especially in the telecom sector, but is confident of passing through the challenging phase with its support from the customers and quality product.

The volumes in automotive battery division grew at a very healthy level and outpaced the market growth rates, enabled by buoyant automotive market and improving economic fundamentals. While volume growth in four wheeler batteries has helped us to gain overall market share, the growth in two wheeler batteries has resulted in peak capacity utilization, thus encouraging us to look ahead for augmentation of additional capacity at the earliest. With a general bullish outlook for automotive industry in place, we expect to leverage our position in the market place to increase market share, simultaneously staying focused about efficiencies.

The impressive growth of the company had gone beyond financial performance. ARBL has been recognized for its “Strong commitment to HR Excellence” at the National level from Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The Board of Directors at their meeting held today has approved capacity addition of 800,000 nos in automotive battery unit and 1,800,000 nos in the two wheeler battery unit at a total capital outlay of Rs.530 million. With the planned capacity additions, the overall capacity of automotive plant will be at about 6 MM units and two wheeler plant at 5 MM units

Commenting on the Q1 performance, Mr. Jayadev Galla, Managing Director, Amara Raja Batteries said, “We are happy with the Q1 performance, as the results have been achieved in an environment of challenge in telecom and buoyancy in automotive. While we continue to have a close watch on the pricing and volume pressure in telecom, we also look at opportunities to expand our market share in the automotive and two wheeler segments.

Commenting on the Q1 performance, Mr. K.Suresh, Chief Financial Officer, said, “Our Company continues to enjoy comfortable liquidity position with almost zero debt status. The current expansion programmes will be funded mostly through the internal accruals”.

About Amara Raja Batteries Ltd
About Amara Raja Batteries Limited, an Amara Raja- Johnson Controls company with 26% equity from Johnson Controls, is the technology leader and is one of the largest manufacturers of lead acid batteries for both industrial and automotive applications in the Indian storage battery industry.

In India, Amara Raja is the preferred supplier to major telecom service providers, telecom equipment manufacturers, UPS Segments (OEM &Replacement), Indian railways and to power, Oil & Gas among other industry segments. Amara Raja manufactures and sells automotive batteries under the Brand Name AMARON which is distributed through a large pan-India sale-service retail network.

Company supplies automotive batteries under OE relationships to Ashok Leyland, General motors, Hindustan Motors, Honda, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti, Hyundai and Tata Motors. The company is an exclusive supplier to Daimler Chrysler, Ford and Swaraj Mazda. The company’s Industrial and Automotive batteries are exported to Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East.

Johnson Controls is a global leader in interior experience, building efficiency and power solutions. The company provides innovative automotive interiors that help make driving more comfortable, safe and enjoyable. For buildings it offers products and services that optimize energy use and improve comfort and security. Johnson Controls also provides batteries for automobiles and hybrid electric vehicles, along with system engineering and service expertise. Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI), founded in 1885, is head quartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its sales for 2009 totalled US $ 28.5 billion.

Safe Harbor
Some of the statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward looking statements. These forward looking statements include our financial and growth projections as well as statements concerning our plans, strategies, intentions and beliefs concerning our business and the markets in which we operate. These statements are based on information currently available to us, and we assume no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events to differ materially from these forward looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, the level of the market demand for our products, the highly competitive market for the types of the products that we offer, market condition that would cause our customers to reduce their spending for our products, our ability to create, acquire and build new businesses and to grow our existing businesses, our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, currency fluctuations and market conditions in India and elsewhere around the world, and otherwise not specifically mentioned herein but those that are common to industry.