Discuss how urban mining of spent batteries can reduce India's import dependence on critical minerals. What policy gaps remain?

Urban mining means recovering metals from products that have been thrown away. Spent lithium-ion batteries contain lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese, which are critical minerals that India mostly imports. As more people use EVs, battery waste can become a domestic "mine", but only if India fixes how batteries are collected and priced.

How urban mining reduces import dependence

• Domestic secondary supply: about 36 kT of Li-ion batteries reached end-of-life in 2025 [1]. Metals recovered from them can go straight into cell manufacturing, so India relies less on concentrated foreign supply chains.
• Ready processing base: announced recycling capacity was over 80 kT, against only about 15 kT of supply in 2025 [1]. Plants can take in much more feedstock.
• Regulatory push: the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 make producers, including importers, responsible for collection and recycling under EPR. Producers meet this through tradable certificates on a central portal [2].
• Feedstock retention: on 10 November 2026, DGFT moved black mass (shredded battery powder) from the "Free" to the "Prohibited" export list [3]. This keeps the minerals for Indian refiners.
• Value capture: refining at home means India does not export black mass and then buy back the same metals at a higher price.

Policy gaps that remain

• Collection leakage: of the 36 kT, informal dealers collected about 18 kT and formal channels only 5.04 kT [1]. The minerals are lost before shredding even begins.
• Weak EPR compliance: producers bought certificates for 7.29 lakh MT of battery metals against a target of 10.96 lakh MT [4]. This leaves a one-third shortfall in demand for recycling.
• Chemistry-blind targets: EPR treats low-value LFP batteries the same as nickel-cobalt ones. NITI Aayog says recycling LFP does not pay [1], so these batteries risk ending up in landfills.
• Price gap: the export ban redirects supply. But it cannot create demand if Indian refiners pay less than foreign buyers did.
• Fragmented governance: trade policy (DGFT), waste rules (MoEFCC/CPCB) and mineral policy (Mines Ministry) are handled separately.

Urban mining can turn India's growing battery waste into a strategic mineral reserve. But secure supply depends on collection and on making recycling pay, not on trade controls alone. NITI Aayog's suggestions show the way forward: EPR pricing set by chemistry, linking the EPR portal with GSTN, and incentives under the National Critical Mineral Mission [1]. Together they would advance mineral self-reliance and SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production).