India’s Ministry of Mines is set to roll out a landmark ₹3,000 crore incentive scheme to develop domestic lithium and nickel processing capacity. For those tracking the recycling and clean energy landscape, this is not simply an industrial policy announcement. It signals that the government recognises the full lifecycle of battery materials as a strategic national priority, from extraction and processing through to end-of-life recovery.
For the battery recycling sector, the implications are significant. India’s approach to lithium-ion battery disposal is entering a new phase, one where domestic processing capacity and formal battery recycling infrastructure become mutually reinforcing pillars of the country’s EV ambitions.
What the ₹3,000 Crore Scheme Actually Proposes
The Ministry of Mines is set to introduce a ₹3,000 crore incentive scheme aimed at strengthening domestic lithium and nickel processing capacity, a key step in reducing import dependence and supporting the country’s rapidly expanding electric vehicle ecosystem. The proposed policy is expected to be implemented for investments made on or after April 1, 2026, providing financial incentives over a five-year period.
Under the scheme, companies establishing new lithium and nickel processing facilities will be eligible for a 15 percent capital subsidy on approved investments, with incentive payouts linked to plant performance and released in phases upon achieving prescribed utilisation benchmarks.
Companies seeking benefits under the programme will need to establish processing facilities with significant production capacities, with lithium processing plants likely requiring a minimum annual capacity of 30,000 metric tonnes and nickel processing plants a capacity of at least 50,000 metric tonnes.
This is not a scheme designed for small operators. It is designed to attract serious industrial investment and create the kind of scale that can actually move the needle on India’s current import dependency for battery-grade materials.
Why India Cannot Afford to Import Its Way to an EV Future
India imported over 70 percent of its lithium requirements in recent years, creating supply concentration risk for domestic battery manufacturers as EV penetration scales across two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and passenger vehicles.
This dependency becomes more acute when viewed against the government’s own ambitions. India targets 30 percent electric car penetration and 80 percent electric two-wheeler penetration by 2030, up from 6 percent and 9 percent respectively at present. Reaching those targets while continuing to source processed lithium and nickel primarily from overseas exposes the entire EV programme to price volatility, supply chain disruption, and geopolitical risk.
The incentive scheme is the government’s recognition that securing the material inputs for batteries is as important as building the factories that assemble them.
The Connection Between Processing Capacity and Battery Recycling
Here is where the scheme becomes particularly relevant for the recycling sector. Domestic lithium and nickel processing capacity does not only serve freshly mined or imported raw materials. It also creates the industrial infrastructure needed to reprocess materials recovered from end-of-life batteries.
India currently recycles only around 1 percent of its end-of-life lithium-ion batteries into reusable materials. However, with effective policy interventions, the country could develop a lithium-ion battery recycling industry worth approximately Rs. 31,150 crore by 2030.
Processing and recycling capacity are fundamentally linked. The black mass recovered from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries contains lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese. Those recovered materials must be refined to battery-grade quality before they can re-enter manufacturing. Without domestic refining infrastructure, that black mass is exported or processed informally at low recovery efficiency. The ₹3,000 crore scheme creates the industrial scaffolding that formal battery recycling in India needs to close the loop.
What This Means for Lithium-Ion Battery Disposal Right Now
India’s regulatory framework for battery waste is already tightening independently of this scheme. The amendments to the Battery Waste Management Rules 2025 represent a decisive tightening of India’s approach to battery lifecycle accountability, introducing stricter recovery targets, mandatory recycled-content requirements from FY 2027-28 onwards, and enhanced digital traceability obligations through barcode and QR code tracking on all battery packs.
From FY 2027-28, batteries manufactured in India must incorporate minimum percentages of recycled lithium, cobalt, and nickel recovered from domestically processed end-of-life batteries.
This is a pivotal regulatory shift. It transforms lithium-ion battery disposal from a compliance obligation into a supply chain input. A battery manufacturer that needs recycled lithium content in its cells from 2027 onward has a direct commercial interest in ensuring that end-of-life batteries are collected and processed through formal, high-recovery-rate channels rather than the informal sector.
Industry estimates suggest India will need to scale recycling capacity by 50 to 60 times relative to current levels to manage the battery packs sold today once they reach end-of-life in the early 2030s. The combination of the incentive scheme for processing infrastructure and the BWMR recycled content mandate creates a policy environment where this scaling is both commercially incentivized and legally required.
What the Recycling Sector Should Be Doing Now
The ₹3,000 crore scheme is an investment signal, not an overnight transformation. The processing facilities it incentivizes will take years to build and commission. The recycled content mandates arriving in FY 2027-28 are closer. For recyclers and producers operating under EPR obligations today, the most important actions are practical and immediate.
Registering on the CPCB portal as an authorized recycler or producer is the starting point. Building documented collection channels with OEM return programmes, fleet operators, and consumer-facing take-back points creates the supply of end-of-life batteries that any recycling operation depends on. Investing in hydrometallurgical processing capability, or partnering with recyclers who have it, ensures that the materials recovered meet the battery-grade quality standards that will be required once domestic recycled content obligations take effect.
As of December 2025, the portal includes 4,022 registered producers and 487 registered recyclers, with 58.26 lakh tonnes of battery waste processed through formal recycling pathways, signalling rapid ecosystem formalisation. The infrastructure is being built. The question for businesses in the recycling and battery sectors is whether they are part of that formalisation or outside it.
Conclusion
The ₹3,000 crore incentive scheme for lithium and nickel processing is one of the most consequential policy developments for India’s battery sector in recent years. It addresses the supply chain vulnerability at the front end of the battery lifecycle while, indirectly but critically, creating the conditions for formal battery recycling to scale at the back end.
India’s EV ambitions and its battery recycling obligations are converging, and organizations that understand both dimensions will be better positioned for what comes next.
Eco Recycling Ltd. has been working at the intersection of these regulatory and industrial shifts, providing authorized lithium-ion battery disposal and battery recycling services that meet current BWMR requirements while building the capacity that upcoming recycled content mandates will demand. For businesses navigating EPR compliance, collection infrastructure, or material recovery partnerships, now is the time to engage seriously rather than reactively.
Eco Recycling Ltd: Among India’s 58 Approved Leaders Driving the Critical Mineral Recycling Revolution
As the government rolls out its ₹3,000 crore incentive push for lithium and nickel processing, a parallel milestone has already been achieved on the recycling front. The Ministry of Mines has completed its eligibility assessment under the ₹1,500 crore Incentive Scheme for Promotion of Critical Mineral Recycling, part of the National Critical Mineral Mission, approving 58 companies with a combined pledged capacity of about 850 KTPA and pledged investments of roughly ₹5,000 crore, spanning battery recycling, e-waste processing, and mineral recovery from scrap.
This sets the stage for the next phase: capacity development and production-linked financial support for eligible entities, directly complementing the government’s broader lithium and nickel strategy and shaping the future of responsible lithium-ion battery disposal in India.
Eco Recycling Ltd (Ecoreco) is proud to be among the entities eligible under this Scheme.
FAQ
The Indian government has proposed a ₹3,000 crore incentive scheme through the Ministry of Mines to boost domestic processing of lithium and nickel, two minerals critical to EV battery manufacturing. The scheme offers a capital subsidy on approved investments, payable in phases as processing plants hit performance milestones. It’s designed to reduce India’s import dependence and strengthen the local battery supply chain, which directly ties into how the entire lithium-ion battery lifecycle, including disposal and recycling, is managed within the country.
While the ₹3,000 crore scheme focuses on processing raw lithium and nickel, it works hand-in-hand with the government’s broader push on recycling, including the earlier ₹1,500 crore Critical Mineral Recycling Incentive Scheme aimed at recovering lithium, nickel, and other minerals from e-waste and spent batteries. Together, these initiatives create a closed-loop system: minerals mined or imported, used in batteries, and then recovered again through proper disposal and recycling, an area where companies like Eco Recycling Ltd already play an active role.
Improperly discarded lithium-ion batteries pose fire risks, soil and water contamination, and a waste of recoverable materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel. As India targets 30% EV penetration by 2030, the volume of end-of-life batteries will rise sharply. Scientific disposal and recycling, the kind of work companies like Eco Recycling Ltd specialize in, ensures these materials are safely recovered and reintroduced into the supply chain instead of ending up in landfills.
Based on available details, the scheme is expected to support companies setting up new lithium and nickel processing facilities, with incentives tied to plant utilization and output benchmarks. It’s aimed at both domestic and international investors looking to enter India’s critical minerals space. Recycling-focused companies such as Eco Recycling Ltd, which help recover these same minerals from battery scrap and e-waste, stand to benefit indirectly as demand for recovered material and compliant disposal infrastructure grows.
Eco Recycling Ltd focuses on the environmentally sound collection, dismantling, and recycling of lithium-ion batteries and e-waste, helping recover valuable metals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt for reuse. As government policy increasingly supports both critical mineral processing and recycling infrastructure, Eco Recycling Ltd’s role becomes more significant, bridging the gap between raw material scarcity and sustainable, circular battery disposal practices.
Industry watchers point to a few hurdles: limited domestic lithium reserves, the need for advanced refining technology, and building sufficient recycling capacity to complement raw processing. Scaling up battery collection and disposal networks, the kind Eco Recycling Ltd operates, will be just as important as the processing incentives themselves, since a steady stream of recoverable material from used batteries can ease pressure on new mineral extraction.
