Industry players feel policy follow through and partnerships will help challenge China | Photo Credit: BHAGYA PRAKASH

The country’s need to be self-reliant in critical minerals after Chinese threats to curb critical mineral imports may be a blessing in disguise for the recycling sector. The government has now given added impetus to critical minerals recycling at a time when the international market cannot be relied upon for imports in a charged and ever-fluctuating geo-political environment.

Recycling companies are viewing with optimism the latest ₹1,500 crore incentive scheme announced by the government for critical minerals recycling and the ₹5,000-crore scheme to encourage domestic production of rare earth magnets as opportunities that could be gamechangers for the sector as well as the country in the long run.

As the critical minerals scheme incentivises both large companies and new units, including their expansion, modernisation and diversification, many start-ups in the recycling space are readying themselves to reap benefits from it.

Policy perfect

Lithium-ion battery recycler, MiniMines’ Co-founder and CEO Anupam Kumar says it is planning to align closely with the policy. “Our vision is to address a significant percentage of India’s domestic lithium demand by 2028 through recycling. We already supply refined lithium, cobalt and nickel salts not only to the battery sector but also to industries such as glass, pharmaceuticals and high-temperature grease,” he says, explaining that the incentive will provide a stronger foundation for the company to expand refining capacity and strengthen its reverse logistics partnerships with OEMs.

Bengaluru-based battery recycler Metastable Materials also views the scheme as a “welcome catalyst” as one-third of the scheme’s outlay is directed towards smaller players. Shubham Vishvakarma, Founder and Chief of Process Engineering, feels that the best outcome from the ₹1,500 crore incentive will come if it is paired along with a strong enforcement of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) programme, permit facilitations, and logistics support. That will help further in scaling up and supporting production of critical minerals.

While he envisages that by 2040 the recycling industry can contribute about 25 per cent of critical minerals through urban mining, large players such as Attero Recycling feel the sector’s contribution towards providing the country with critical minerals could be much higher if sufficient focus is given to urban mining.

Domestic production

Attero also feels that the ₹5,000 crore rare earth magnet manufacturing scheme has the potential to kickstart production in the country. In July, it announced a ₹100 crore investment to scale up from 300 tonnes to 30,000 tonnes, annually, its rare earth element (REE) recycling capacity. It also has patents to recycle magnets into oxides.

Apart from the country’s large players who may be looking at these opportunities, it makes sense for recycling companies to explore various options as there is a seamless synergy between recycling and manufacturing of rare earth magnets.

Kumar also sees this scheme as complementary to MiniMines’ road map. “Our plan is to forward integrate into downstream operations and become suppliers of green minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, neodymium and platinum group metals to critical industries including green hydrogen and semiconductors,” he says.

However, Vishvakarma feels that a lot more needs to be done in the long term. “To meaningfully challenge China, you would need more access, heavy investment in midstream refining and most importantly, decades of scale and industrial policy. Domestic manufacturing will certainly get a huge boost but only with continuous policy follow through and strategic partnerships…”

The fact that magnets are used in the production of a whole host of goods – from electric vehicles to laptops to smart phones and every kind of electronics – is what has spurred the launch of the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) this year. This was followed by the ₹5,000 crore incentive scheme for rare earth manufacturing and over a thousand critical mineral exploration projects between FY25 and FY31.

Nitin Gupta, CEO of Attero, envisages a bright future for India in recycling of critical minerals and the manufacturing of rare earth magnets. “India’s requirement for rare earth magnets annually is around 6,000 tonnes and with sufficient planning we could make India not only self-reliant but also the recycling hub of the world,’’ he says.

Published on September 15, 2025