Over the past decade, India has witnessed a digital transformation of extraordinary scale. Everyday activities that once required physical presence and long queues—banking, shopping, bill payments, government services—are now completed with a few taps on a smartphone. This shift has expanded access, reduced transaction costs, and positioned India as a leading digital economy among emerging markets.

The narrative of Digital India is, in many ways, a legitimate success story. Yet beneath this celebration lies a problem that remains largely invisible in public discourse: the growing and poorly managed burden of electronic waste.

In India, much of the discarded electronics flows into an informal and often hazardous waste economy where dismantling and recovery are carried out using unsafe methods such as open burning, acid leaching, and crude landfilling. The environmental consequences — contaminated soil, polluted water sources, and toxic air — pose long-term risks to both ecosystems and human health.

AI systems depend on high-performance GPUs and specialised servers that consume large amounts of energy, generate significant heat, and wear out quickly. As Indian firms race to adopt AI, hardware replacement cycles are shrinking. The result is a steady and growing stream of high-grade electronic waste — one that policy frameworks have not kept pace with.

Growing contradiction

This creates a troubling contradiction. India’s commitment to innovation, infrastructure, and industrial growth aligns with global development goals, yet the material waste generated by this pursuit undermines responsible consumption, clean water, and public health. Digital efficiency is being achieved by shifting environmental and social costs onto land, water systems, and vulnerable communities. In effect, digital problems are being solved by creating physical ones.

On paper, India appears prepared. The E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022, and the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework place clear obligations on manufacturers to collect and recycle end-of-life electronics. Corporate sustainability reports routinely highlight commitments to a “circular economy,” suggesting that waste is being recovered and reused responsibly. However, the gap between regulatory intent and ground-level reality is stark. In informal recycling hubs such as Seelampur in Delhi or peripheral zones around Chennai, the circular economy is largely a fiction.

Instead of investing in accessible collection centres or take-back infrastructure, companies often rely on purchasing recycling certificates from third parties. The result is regulatory compliance without environmental protection.

Health impact

An estimated 90 per cent of India’s e-waste is handled by small scrap dealers and waste pickers who operate outside formal regulation. These workers play a critical role in keeping cities clean, yet they remain among the most neglected participants in the waste management chain. Using rudimentary tools, they burn insulated wires to extract copper or immerse circuit boards in corrosive acids to recover traces of gold. Prolonged exposure to toxic fumes and heavy metals leads to respiratory illness, neurological damage, and long-term health complications. Children are often present at these sites, amplifying the social cost of neglect.

The irony is difficult to ignore. While policymakers promote the circular economy as a sustainable future, the people enabling recycling on the ground often work in conditions reminiscent of an earlier industrial age. Any serious commitment to decent work and inclusive growth must address this contradiction by integrating informal recyclers into safer, regulated systems rather than treating them as an inconvenience to be bypassed.

Looking ahead, the scale of the problem is set to expand significantly. The rapid deployment of the Internet of Things will embed millions of small electronic devices into everyday infrastructure—smart meters, streetlights, agricultural equipment, and household appliances. When these devices fail, they will be dispersed across urban and rural landscapes, making collection and recovery far more complex than managing consumer electronics concentrated in cities.

At the same time, the growing acceptance of planned obsolescence is eroding repair-oriented practices. Devices are increasingly designed to be sealed, glued, and fused, discouraging maintenance and reinforcing a culture of disposal. This represents a sharp departure from earlier norms of repair and reuse that once extended the life of everyday goods.

Steps to be taken

If India is to avoid converting digital success into environmental liability, a course correction is essential. First, transparency must move beyond certification toward physical tracking of e-waste, ensuring that discarded electronics are collected and processed safely. Second, right-to-repair legislation can restore longevity to devices by requiring manufacturers to provide modular components and repair support. Third, the informal recycling sector must be recognised as an asset.

With appropriate incentives, training, and safety standards, these workers can become partners in a regulated e-waste ecosystem rather than its most vulnerable victims.

India’s digital ascent has earned it a place at the global table. Whether that achievement endures will depend on whether innovation is matched by accountability.

Without decisive action, the country risks being remembered as a generation that built a digital empire on a foundation of toxic waste. True progress lies not in the speed of adoption alone, but in ensuring that technological growth does not come at the cost of land, water, and human well-being.

Mishra, is Associate Professor, ICFAI Business School; Fuloria is Professor & Director, Center for Distance and Online Education, ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Hyderabad

Published on May 1, 2026