Attero to Invest ₹100 Crore to Scale Rare Earth Recycling Capacity to 30,000 Tonnes

Attero, an Indian company specializing in e-waste and lithium-ion battery recycling, has announced plans to expand its rare earth element (REE) recycling capacity from 300 tonnes to 30,000 tonnes annually over the next 12 to 24 months. The expansion will be supported by an investment of ₹100 crore and aligns with the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM), launched by the Government of India to reduce reliance on imports and strengthen domestic supply chains for critical minerals.

Rare earth elements such as Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), and Dysprosium (Dy) are essential for industries including electric vehicles, wind energy, and electronics. With the global REE market projected to reach USD 10.9 billion by 2029 and the REE magnet market expected to exceed USD 30.3 billion by 2033, domestic recycling capabilities have become increasingly significant.

Attero’s CEO and Co-founder, Nitin Gupta, stated that the company possesses patented processes that enable efficient recovery of rare earths from e-waste with over 98% efficiency and 99.9% purity. The expansion aims to increase the company's capacity from 1 tonne to 100 tonnes per day, scaling up to 30,000 tonnes annually.

The company’s technology facilitates the extraction of REEs from items like hard drives, laptops, and earphones, which contain high concentrations of elements such as Nd, Pr, Ce, Gd, and Dy. Attero also refines black mass from used lithium-ion batteries into high-purity materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese.

Attero currently holds over 46 global patents, with recent grants in India, China, Taiwan, and several Middle Eastern countries. In FY25, the company processed more than 150,000 tonnes of e-waste and 15,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries, with plans to scale this further. It also intends to expand operations to Europe and the US, targeting 415,000 tonnes of e-waste and 50,000 tonnes of battery recycling capacity annually.

Founded in 2008, Attero operates in six countries and recently launched a consumer-facing e-waste take-back platform, Selsmart, which aims to process 140,000 metric tonnes of e-waste and recover five million units in three years.