The company has tied up with GPI International of Hong Kong for marketing the batteries in India. The company, however, has no plans to manufacture these batteries in India and will be importing it from Hong Kong. Manufacturing will be considered if substantial volumes are built in this segment.

The batteries will be first sold in major metros before tapping the rural market. Eveready Industries (India) Ltd director (sales and marketing) Roshan Joseph said that it would test-market the product in the Pune market for two months before moving to other centres.

The rechargeable batteries are expected to reduce consumer's cost of repeated purchases as they can be recharged through a special recharger - Eveready PowerBank Charger. The batteries are meant for use in highdrain devices that are used frequently like personal stereos, walkmans, toys, cameras and video games.

The company has simultaneously launched a robust charger called Power Bank which has to be manually operated to ensure efficient charging and protection to batteries. The second version of this charger is also expected to hit the market shortly. At present, Eveready sells 750 million batteries in all segments which accounts for Rs 425 crore of its total turnover.