Evaluate how effective Extended Producer Responsibility under the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 has been in formalising lithium-ion battery recycling in India.

The Battery Waste Management Rules (BWMR), 2022 were notified by MoEFCC. They replaced the 2001 Rules, which covered only lead-acid batteries. The new Rules make producers, including importers, responsible for collecting and recycling waste batteries [1]. EPR has built the formal architecture for lithium-ion (Li-ion) recycling. However, it has not yet moved most battery flows into that system.

Achievements of EPR

• Wider coverage: EV, portable, automotive and industrial batteries are all covered, with collection targets set by battery type [1].
• Market mechanism: producers and recyclers trade EPR certificates on a centralised online portal. Non-compliance attracts environmental compensation under the Polluter Pays Principle [1].
• Formal registration: 3,664 producers and 442 recyclers have registered. Only certificates from registered recyclers count [3].
• Price discipline: the 2024 amendment added minimum–maximum price bands linked to environmental compensation [2].

Limitations

• Informal collection dominates: about 36 kT of Li-ion batteries reached end-of-life in 2025. Informal dealers picked up about 18 kT, while formal channels picked up only 5.04 kT [2].
• Weak producer demand: producers bought certificates for 7.29 lakh MT against a target of 10.96 lakh MT, a shortfall of about one-third [3].
• Idle capacity: announced recycling capacity is over 80 kT, but only about 15 kT of feedstock was available in 2025 [2]. Formal plants are starved of batteries.
• Same rules for every chemistry: EPR does not separate one Li-ion chemistry from another. Low-value LFP batteries are uneconomical to recycle [2], so they are the ones most likely to go to informal dealers or be dumped.
• Verification gaps: certificates are not cross-checked against invoices, so they can be issued for recycling that never happened [2].

Verdict EPR is partly effective. The legal and digital framework is in place, but most battery flows are still informal.

Way forward

• Chemistry-specific EPR pricing for LFP and other low-value batteries [2].
• Link the EPR portal with GSTN so invoices are checked automatically [2].
• Notify the metal content of each chemistry so recovery claims can be checked [2].
• Incentives under the National Critical Mineral Mission, plus carbon-credit income, to close recyclers' viability gap [2].
• Bring informal collectors into the formal chain through aggregation centres.

EPR has set up the institutions for recycling but not yet the economics that would make the formal route pay. Pricing by chemistry, better verification and inclusion of informal collectors can turn it into a working urban-mining system. That would support SDG 12.5 (cutting waste), Article 48A (protecting the environment) and India's critical-mineral security.