Minda Industries said on Wednesday the company has signed a joint venture agreement with Panasonic Corporation, Japan to manufacture and supply of lead acid storage batteries for two wheelers, four wheelers and for other industrial batteries. The proposed plant of the joint venture company will be located at Pant Nagar, Uttrakhand.

The shareholding of Panasonic Corporation and Minda Industries in the said joint venture is in the ratio of 60:40. Minda Industries, subject to the necessary approvals, will transfer its running Battery division, located at Pant Nagar, Uttrakhand to the joint venture company.

The cost of the project will be around Rs 1.60 billion. The commercial production of the 4W batteries is planned for June, 2015. It is stated that the production capacity of this joint venture company is expected to be two million batteries by 2018.

Shares of the company gained Rs 31.2, or 6.44%, to trade at Rs 516. The total volume of shares traded was 20,534 at the BSE (12.27 p.m., Wednesday).