Jaipur

India is losing business opportunities worth thousands of crores in the waste recycling sector due to limited processing capacity and inefficiencies in the informal scrap management system, government think tank NITI Aayog said on Thursday.

The Aayog assessed the potential of the country’s recycling industry in separate reports covering e-waste, end-of-life vehicles (ELVs), waste tyres, and lithium-ion batteries.

According to the report on e-waste, India generates about 6.2 million metric tonnes (MMT) of e-waste annually, projected to rise to 14 MMT by 2030. Of the estimated Rs 51,000 crore value of e-waste, 60 per cent is extractable, but only 18 per cent is recovered due to poor processing and informal sector inefficiencies. Formal recycling capacity is limited to around 2 MMT, with only 10 per cent processed through authorised channels.

In the waste tyres segment, India generates nearly 3 MMT annually, of which 1.6 MMT comes from domestic end-of-life tyres. The report noted Rs 7,500 crore of lost revenue due to lack of quality standards for recycled products. It recommended banning pyrolysis of imported tyres to encourage higher-value domestic recycling.

ELVs are expected to reach about 50 million units by 2030, highlighting an “urgent need for a robust policy and regulatory framework,” the Aayog said. Lithium-ion battery demand is also projected to jump from 29 GWh to 248 GWh, with spent battery volumes rising almost ninefold to 332 kilotonnes by 2025.

Priyavrat Bhati, Programme Lead, Green Transition, Climate Environment, NITI Aayog, said, “India is confronting a widening mismatch between the pace at which waste is generated and the capacity of formal recycling systems. This disconnect is translating into a direct loss of economic value, industrial inputs, and strategic resources at a time when global supply chains are increasingly constrained.”

K Narayanan, Programme Director, Security and Law, NITI Aayog, noted that the recycling sector has emerged as a “nationally relevant economic activity” and a core contributor to development, increasingly driven by industry adoption of ethics, transparency, and responsibility.

Sanjay Mehta, President of the Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI), said that nearly 90 per cent of metal recycling in India is now organised, demonstrating that formalisation delivers scale, compliance, and efficiency. He added that NITI Aayog’s reports provide “clear pathways for policy upheaval to drive further growth,” and stressed that waste is no longer merely an environmental concern but a strategic economic resource.

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The reports were released at the International Material Recycling Conference (IMRC) 2026 in Jaipur, organised by MRAI, which concluded on Thursday.