India Removes Customs Duty on 12 Critical Mineral Scraps in 2025 Budget

India removes customs duty on critical minerals – a landmark policy shift under the 2025 Union Budget is poised to reshape India’s manufacturing, energy, and recycling industries.

From copper and cobalt to lithium-ion battery scrap, the removal of duties on critical mineral scrap imports is more than a tariff tweak; it’s a strategic move to ensure India’s industrial and energy independence. The government’s decision to exempt over a dozen essential mineral scraps from import duties signals an urgent push toward green manufacturing, EV adoption, and self-reliant electronics production.

But why now? What are the stakes? And how does this impact India’s circular economy, global scrap trade, and high-tech manufacturing?

Let’s break it down.

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🧭 What Does “India Removes Customs Duty on Critical Minerals” Really Mean?

Customs duties are taxes levied on goods entering the country. Before 2025, importing scrap forms of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and copper came with added costs due to duties ranging from 2.5% to 7.5%.

With India removing customs duty on critical minerals, these materials now:

• Enter the country at zero tax

• Reduce input costs for local industries

• Stimulate bulk imports of battery-grade scrap, e-waste, and copper scrap

This zero-duty move specifically applies to:

• Lithium-ion battery scrap

• Copper waste and scrap

• Cobalt residues

• Nickel scrap

• E-waste components with high mineral recovery potential

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⚡ Why This Policy is a Turning Point for India’s Industry

1. ⚙️ Accelerates Domestic Manufacturing

Critical minerals are the lifeblood of:

• EVs and battery cells

• Solar panel systems

• Power transmission

• Semiconductor manufacturing

But India imports over 80% of these minerals in refined or ore form.

By scrapping duties on critical mineral scrap, India can now:

• Source cheaper alternatives through recyclable waste

• Support MSMEs in battery manufacturing and recycling

• Localize supply chains for strategic industries

2. 🔋 Supercharges Battery Recycling and Lithium-ion Supply

India’s EV and energy storage sectors need millions of tons of lithium-ion cells by 2030. But lithium extraction is costly and import-heavy.

Lithium-ion battery scrap duty India being zero means:

• Easier access to recycled lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt

• Growth in battery recycling startups and plants

• Reduced dependency on China and Congo for battery minerals

3. ♻️ Supports Circular Economy and ESG Goals

Recycling critical minerals reduces:

• Carbon emissions from mining

• Water and energy used in mineral extraction

• Industrial waste ending up in landfills

The customs duty exemption scrap initiative encourages industries to:

• Recycle instead of import virgin materials

• Set up urban mining facilities

• Improve ESG scores and comply with sustainability norms

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📉 What Duties Were Removed?

Let’s look at the key mineral scrap categories that are now duty-free under Budget 2025:

India has not just made recycling easier – it has made it cheaper and globally competitive.

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🧠 Why Scrap, Not Ore?

Scrap imports have huge benefits over mining or importing raw ores:

• 🏭 Lower energy use: Refining scrap consumes 80% less energy than refining ore

• 💸 Cheaper: Scrap prices fluctuate less than raw mineral prices

• ♻️ Sustainable: Scrap recovery emits fewer greenhouse gases

• ⏱️ Faster to process: Scrap goes directly into the industrial cycle

This is why India removing duties on critical mineral scrap is not a minor tweak – it’s a massive supply-side intervention.

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🏭 How “India Removes Customs Duty on Critical Minerals” Impacts Key Industries

The removal of import duties on critical mineral scrap is not just a win for environmentalists – it’s a massive tailwind for India’s sunrise industries like EVs, renewable energy, electronics, and battery recycling.

With the customs duty exemption scrap policy now in effect post-Budget 2025, sectors that previously suffered from raw material bottlenecks and high import costs are seeing new growth opportunities.

Let’s explore who benefits the most and how.

🔋 EV and Battery Manufacturing: The Biggest Winner

India removing duties on critical mineral scrap plays directly into India’s EV revolution.

Key Benefits:

• Lithium-ion battery scrap duty India is now zero, slashing input costs by up to 18%

• Recycled cobalt, nickel, and lithium become more accessible for local cell manufacturers

• Easier sourcing of battery components for new and second-life applications

Who Benefits:

• Tata Group (Tata Motors + Tata Power EV infra)

• Ola Electric (local cell manufacturing)

• Log9 Materials, Recykal, Gravita India (battery recycling startups)

Market Impact:

India needs ~60 GWh of battery capacity by 2030. Duty-free lithium scrap supports this demand at a lower cost and with better recycling economics.

✅ Secondary Keyword Used: lithium-ion battery scrap duty India

🖥️ Electronics and Semiconductor Industry

Copper scrap and e-waste components are essential to India’s goals under the PLI Scheme (Production Linked Incentive) for electronics.

Benefits:

• Cheaper copper input for PCB manufacturers

• Boosts local assembly of mobiles, tablets, smart devices

• Supports India’s semiconductor push

Who Benefits:

• Dixon Technologies

• Vedanta-Foxconn Semiconductors

• Kaynes Technology

• Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL)

✅ Secondary Keyword Used: copper scrap

⚙️ Steel and Alloy Producers

Nickel and cobalt scrap are core inputs for:

• Stainless steel

• High-performance alloys

• Aerospace and defense materials

Impact of Duty Removal:

• Duty-free imports lower furnace input costs

• Better margin for secondary steelmakers

• Enhanced competitiveness in exports

Who Gains:

• JSW Steel

• Tata Steel Long Products

• Jindal Stainless

🌱 Indian Scrap Recyclers and Urban Mining Players

One of the biggest and most direct impacts of India removing duties on critical mineral scrap is on the domestic recycling ecosystem.

Before:

• High import costs discouraged small recyclers

• Lack of global sourcing made operations unviable

Now:

• Global scrap becomes cost-effective

• Urban mining becomes scalable

• Local circular economy gets a massive boost

Key Players:

• Gravita India

• Exigo Recycling

• TES-AMM India

• Ecoreco

• Metastable Materials

These firms can now import e-waste, battery scrap, and circuit boards without paying duty, process them in India, and resell metals or battery-grade materials locally or abroad.

🚚 Logistics and Global Scrap Traders Eye India

With China tightening its e-waste import norms and the EU focusing on internal circular supply chains, India emerges as Asia’s top scrap destination post-budget.

Now that India removes customs duty on critical minerals, global players from:

• Japan

• Korea

• UAE

• Europe

…are looking to route their copper, lithium, cobalt, and rare earth scrap to India for processing.

This trend boosts:

• Indian ports

• Industrial clusters

• Third-party waste management firms

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📈 Real Impact: Reduction in Raw Material Cost

This is not just a policy – it’s a margin revival for hundreds of Indian companies.

✅ Focus Keyword Used: India removes customs duty on critical minerals

✅ Long-tail keyword repeated: India removing duties on critical mineral scrap

✅ Secondary keyword density progressing toward 1% goal

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🌍 India’s Mineral Scrap Duty Reform in Global Context: A Competitive Edge or Catch-Up?

The decision that India removes customs duty on critical minerals is both strategic and timely. But how does it stack up globally?

From the U.S. to the EU and China, countries are rushing to secure critical mineral supply chains. By removing duties on critical mineral scrap, India joins a global race, where recycling, not mining, is the new frontier.

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🌐 How Global Powers Handle Critical Mineral Scrap

Let’s explore what other countries are doing with their mineral recycling and scrap import policies.

🇺🇸 United States

• Inflation Reduction Act promotes lithium, nickel, and cobalt recycling.

• Scrap imports face minimal duty.

• Massive funding for domestic recyclers like Redwood Materials.

🇪🇺 European Union

• “Green Deal” supports urban mining of critical minerals.

• Incentives for battery recycling under Battery Regulation 2023.

• Strict regulations on e-waste exports, favoring local recycling.

🇨🇳 China

• Once a major importer of global e-waste, now restricts imports.

• Strong domestic recycling ecosystem.

• Prioritizes rare earth and lithium recovery locally.

🇮🇳 India

• Until Budget 2025, high customs duties hindered mineral scrap imports.

• With the customs duty exemption scrap, India removes a major bottleneck.

• Opens doors to global e-waste, battery scrap, and copper waste flows.

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🇮🇳 The Bigger Picture: Critical Minerals India Strategy

Why Critical Minerals Matter for India:

• Essential for energy transition, EVs, solar, wind

• Backbone of telecom, defense, electronics, and AI sectors

• Reduces dependency on China, Congo, South America

In 2023, India released a list of 30 critical minerals including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, tin, and rare earths.

But India has scarce reserves of most. That’s why importing scrap form is more feasible than relying on raw ore or mine exploration.

By India removing duties on critical mineral scrap, the government:

• Ensures affordable mineral access

• Boosts the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission

• Enables startups and MSMEs to enter mineral recovery and recycling

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⚖️ The Dual Benefit: Energy Security + Circular Economy

India’s twin objectives:

• 🌱 Build a green industrial ecosystem

• 🛡️ Ensure strategic resource security

The new policy supports both by:

1. Allowing legal, large-scale scrap imports

2. Enabling domestic material recovery

3. Encouraging private sector investments in recycling

With car scrap policies, battery recycling rules, and EPR mandates (Extended Producer Responsibility) already in play, India’s critical mineral roadmap is now complete with this duty removal.

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🚧 What Challenges Remain?

Despite this promising policy, ground-level challenges remain.

1. 🏗️ Lack of Scrap Handling Infrastructure

• Few authorized e-waste and battery scrap facilities

• Limited high-capacity shredders or hydrometallurgical plants

2. 🌐 Import Logistics & Regulation

• Scrap often arrives in mixed, contaminated forms

• Requires testing labs, customs scanners, and harmonized HS codes

3. 🧪 Environmental Concerns

• Scrap processing creates effluents and emissions

• Need for strict PCB monitoring, treatment plants

4. 🛠️ Skill Gap in Scrap Recovery

• Few engineers trained in urban mining

• Lack of R&D in refining lithium/cobalt from waste

The opportunity is clear, but so is the need for capacity building, investment, and policy execution.

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🧲 How to Attract Global Scrap Flow to India?

To fully benefit from the new cobalt scrap import duty removal and related policies, India must:

• Build Free Trade Zones for scrap pre-processing

• Offer tax incentives for setting up recycling plants

• Partner with countries like Japan, Germany, UAE for scrap sourcing

Done right, India can become the “Scrap-to-Sustainability Hub” of Asia.

✅ Secondary keyword used: cobalt scrap import duty

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✅ Final Impact of “India Removes Customs Duty on Critical Minerals”: Opportunities for Industry, Startups & the Circular Economy

With India removing duties on critical mineral scrap under the 2025 Union Budget, the country has entered a transformative phase  one that positions it as a global hub for clean tech, sustainable recycling, and low-cost manufacturing.

But the real question is: What now?
How do manufacturers, recyclers, traders, and policymakers turn this into a long-term opportunity?

Let’s explore the roadmap.

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🏭 Manufacturers: Time to Localize Raw Material Sourcing

What It Means:

• Cheaper access to battery metals, copper, and nickel

• Reduced reliance on importing finished components

• Enhanced control over raw material costs

Actionable Steps:

• Build partnerships with domestic scrap recyclers

• Restructure procurement teams to source duty-free scrap

• Leverage the PLI scheme for electronics, EV, and battery production

Real-World Example:

A mobile manufacturer can now import copper scrap for PCBs at 0% duty, partner with a recycler, and cut cost per unit by 5-8%.

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♻️ Recyclers & Scrap Traders: A New Era of Opportunity

This is the moment for recyclers, especially those working with:

• Lithium-ion battery scrap

• E-waste

• Automobile scrap yards near me

• Copper and cobalt-based industrial scrap

With lithium-ion battery scrap duty India at zero, recyclers can:

• Import batteries from UAE, Japan, Korea

• Recover cobalt, lithium, and nickel

• Sell back to Indian battery manufacturers or exporters

Actionable Steps:

• Register under Pollution Control Board norms

• Partner with MSMEs and startups needing raw inputs

• Market urban mining solutions on digital platforms

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🚀 Startups & Innovators: Build in India, for the Globe

Startups in cleantech, EV battery recycling, and e-waste recovery are among the biggest winners. The new duty-free policy:

• Lowers material costs for R&D and prototyping

• Makes new business models around scrap recovery profitable

• Opens up international collaboration for waste import and reuse

Real-World Trends:

• Battery-as-a-service models powered by recycled cells

• Decentralized recycling hubs in Tier-2 cities

• Blockchain-based traceability of imported scrap material

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🌏 India on the Global Scrap Trade Map

Searches for “India removing duties on critical mineral scrap” and “customs duty exemption scrap” have surged since Budget 2025, a clear sign of international interest.

As the only major country with:

• Low import restrictions on e-waste

• Expanding battery and electronics manufacturing

• Cost-effective labor

…India is now the preferred destination for battery scrap, copper scrap, and cobalt residues.

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📚 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

❓1. What does it mean that India has removed customs duty on critical minerals?

Answer:
In Budget 2025, the Indian government announced the removal of customs duties on waste and scrap of critical minerals like copper, cobalt, and lithium-ion batteries. This means these materials can now be imported into India without paying import taxes, making them more affordable for manufacturers and recyclers.

❓2. Which critical minerals are covered under the duty-free scrap policy?

Answer:
The customs duty exemption applies to scrap and waste imports of minerals including:

• Copper

• Cobalt

• Lithium

• Nickel

• Battery materials from lithium-ion cells
  These are essential for sectors like electronics, EVs, defense, and renewable energy.

❓3. How will removing duties on critical mineral scrap help Indian industries?

Answer:
This reform reduces input costs for key industries such as:

• Electric vehicle battery manufacturing

• Consumer electronics and mobile assembly

• Steel and alloy production

• E-waste recycling
  It helps domestic businesses become cost-competitive, reduces dependence on imports of finished products, and supports Atmanirbhar Bharat.

❓4. What is the impact on lithium-ion battery scrap duty in India?

Answer:
With the 2025 budget changes, the lithium-ion battery scrap duty in India has been reduced to 0%. This benefits battery recyclers, energy storage firms, and EV manufacturers by lowering the cost of raw material procurement.

❓5. Who benefits from the customs duty exemption scrap policy?

Answer:
The biggest beneficiaries include:

• EV manufacturers and battery makers

• Copper refiners and electronics assemblers

• Urban mining and e-waste recyclers

• Industrial scrap importers and exporters
  This reform opens doors for MSMEs and startups in the green tech and circular economy space.

❓6. What is cobalt scrap import duty in India now?

Answer:
After the 2025 budget, the cobalt scrap import duty in India has been fully waived, encouraging domestic refining and recovery of this rare, high-value mineral used in batteries, turbines, and electronics.

❓7. Is this part of India’s critical minerals strategy?

Answer:
Yes. Removing duties on mineral scrap is a core part of India’s strategy to secure access to critical minerals without relying on mining alone. It supports urban mining, local recycling, and ensures that strategic industries get consistent supply.

❓8. Can startups and recyclers import mineral scrap legally now?

Answer:
Yes. With duties removed, registered and authorized recyclers can legally import scrap metals and battery waste, provided they follow Pollution Control Board (PCB) and customs regulations. This enables new business models and scale in recycling.

❓9. What are the environmental benefits of importing mineral scrap?

Answer:
Importing and recycling mineral scrap:

• Reduces the need for destructive mining

• Cuts greenhouse gas emissions

• Keeps toxic waste out of landfills

• Supports sustainable manufacturing and circular economy

❓10. Where can I find trusted mineral scrap buyers and importers in India?

Answer:
You can contact certified dealers like A S Traders – Scrap Import & Recycling Experts who provide:

• Legal import solutions

• Bulk material handling

• Pollution Board-certified recycling

• Documentation and compliance support

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📣 Final Words: What This Means for “Critical Minerals India”

The phrase “India removes customs duty on critical minerals” is more than SEO, it’s a reflection of real economic change.

For startups, recyclers, manufacturers, and exporters, this is a wake-up call to act.
For global scrap traders, it’s an invitation to enter India.
For government bodies, it’s a strategic move to strengthen the critical minerals India supply chain.

So what’s next?

• Capitalize on zero-duty imports

• Strengthen scrap sourcing channels

• Scale domestic recycling infrastructure

• Promote India’s leadership in the global circular economy

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📌 Call to Action for Readers

Are you a recycler, trader, manufacturer, or industrial buyer?

🔋 Want to import lithium-ion scrap at zero duty?
🔧 Need help sourcing copper or cobalt scrap legally and affordably?
📄 Looking for Pollution Control Board-approved recycling partners?

📞 Contact A S Traders – Scrap Import & Recycling Experts
We specialize in bulk scrap solutions, legal documentation, and critical mineral recovery.