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12 Oct 2025 | 8373 Views | By Rajesh Gupta, Founder & Director of Recyclekaro
As India accelerates toward an electric mobility future, automakers find themselves balancing rapid growth with the need to meet sustainability and compliance goals. While electric vehicles address tailpipe emissions, the question of what happens to the batteries at the end of their lifecycle has become increasingly critical. The answer lies ...
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As India accelerates toward an electric mobility future, automakers find themselves balancing rapid growth with the need to meet sustainability and compliance goals. While electric vehicles address tailpipe emissions, the question of what happens to the batteries at the end of their lifecycle has become increasingly critical. The answer lies in building a circular value chain through scientific battery recycling, a solution that simultaneously supports net-zero ambitions, reduces costs, and secures vital raw materials for the long term.
Battery recycling has emerged as one of the most strategic levers for automakers aiming to meet their green targets. Unlike traditional mining, which consumes vast amounts of energy and water, recycling produces less than half the greenhouse gas emissions, making it a more sustainable and scalable alternative. Recovering critical metals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese from used batteries allows manufacturers to lower their carbon footprint while reducing their dependence on imported resources. India currently relies entirely on imports for these minerals, leaving the automotive industry exposed to global price volatility and supply chain risks.
The economic case for recycling is just as compelling. Lithium-ion batteries make up nearly 40 percent of an electric vehicle’s cost. At advanced recycling facilities across India, innovative hydrometallurgical processes now enable high recovery and purity levels, producing battery-grade lithium carbonate, cobalt sulphate, and nickel sulphate that can be directly reused in new cells. With industry-wide recycling capacities rapidly expanding to handle thousands of tonnes of spent batteries and e-waste each year, these closed-loop models demonstrate how environmental responsibility and economic efficiency can coexist within the circular economy.
Policy support has further strengthened the business case. India’s Battery Waste Management Rules (2022) have made Extended Producer Responsibility mandatory for automakers, requiring 90 percent of end-of-life batteries to be recycled by 2026 and at least 20 percent of recovered materials to be reused by 2030. Complementing this, the National Critical Minerals Mission seeks to establish large-scale domestic recycling infrastructure to recover nearly 40,000 tonnes of key minerals annually. Together, these measures ensure that battery recycling is no longer a choice but a strategic requirement for every automaker operating in India.
Across the industry, leading OEMs such as Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, and Ather Energy have partnered with Government recognised recyclers to responsibly manage their battery waste. These collaborations integrate recycling into product lifecycles, ensuring full traceability from collection to material recovery. They also align with India’s larger sustainability vision, where recovered materials are reintegrated into the manufacturing ecosystem, reducing reliance on primary extraction and cutting down emissions across the value chain.
Technological innovation plays a crucial role in this transformation. Modern recycling processes are not only energy-efficient but also designed for scalability and purity, enabling recycled metals to compete with virgin resources in both quality and consistency. By embedding recycling at the core of manufacturing strategies, automakers can address regulatory compliance, meet ESG benchmarks, and future-proof their supply chains against resource shocks.
Battery recycling therefore represents more than an environmental responsibility; it is a strategic opportunity for automakers to lead India’s transition to a low-carbon, resource-secure economy. It transforms what was once considered waste into a renewable source of raw materials, turning sustainability into a business advantage. As the EV landscape expands and battery waste volumes rise, companies that act early to integrate circular practices will not only meet their green targets but also emerge as leaders of a more resilient and self-reliant automotive future.
Rajesh Gupta is Founder & Director of Recyclekaro. Views expressed are the author's personal.