Incentive Scheme for Critical Mineral Recycling
Also called: Critical Mineral Recycling Scheme · Topic: Mineral Resources of India: Distribution and Conservation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Incentive Scheme for Critical Mineral Recycling is a central government scheme that pays firms to recover critical minerals from waste. Critical minerals are minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel that India needs but mostly imports. The Union Cabinet approved the scheme in September 2025. It has ₹1,500 crore and runs from FY 2025-26 to FY 2030-31. It covers two waste streams, battery waste and e-waste, so it is a form of urban mining (getting minerals from waste instead of from ore).
The scheme gives firms two kinds of help:
- a 20% capex subsidy, which pays part of the one-time cost of plant and machinery
- an opex subsidy, which helps with running costs and is linked to extra sales over FY 2025-26.
A large firm can get at most ₹50 crore and a small firm at most ₹25 crore. The scheme aims for about 270 kilo tonnes of recycling capacity a year and about 40 kilo tonnes of recovered critical minerals. It works under the National Critical Mineral Mission.
Example
A battery recycler that only shreds spent lithium-ion batteries into black mass (a powder that holds lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese) gets nothing. A unit that refines that black mass into battery-grade lithium, cobalt or nickel can claim the subsidy. In November 2026, India also banned the export of black mass. This keeps the feedstock (raw input) inside the country for these refiners.
Don't confuse with
- National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM): this is the larger umbrella mission, approved in January 2025 with ₹16,300 crore. It covers exploration, auctions, stockpiles and buying mineral assets abroad. The recycling scheme is only one part of it.
- Black mass export ban: this is a trade measure issued by DGFT, not a subsidy. It stops black mass from leaving India, while the scheme pays to build refining capacity at home.