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India Needs 500 Million Tonnes of Steel by 2047. Half of It Will Come From Your Scrap.
The government's 'Viksit Bharat' plan isn't just high-level talk. It's a direct demand signal for decades of growth in the scrap industry, backed by hard targets and new policies.
To build a 'Viksit Bharat' (Developed India) with a $30-trillion economy, the country needs to make a lot more steel. The government has set a clear target: increase India's steel production capacity from around 144 million tonnes today to 500 million tonnes by 2047.
For your business, the most important number is this: the government aims for recycled scrap to feed 50% of that steel production by 2047, a massive jump from the current 23%. This is a strategic necessity. Without a formal, organised, and efficient scrap industry, India cannot meet its manufacturing and infrastructure goals. Your scrap is a strategic national resource.
What Is Changing: Policy, Not Just Price
The coming demand is not just for more scrap, but for better scrap. To ensure a steady supply of clean, segregated material, the government is actively formalising the sector. This is happening through a series of powerful policy shifts you cannot ignore:
- The Steel Scrap Recycling Policy (2019): This policy laid the groundwork for an organised ecosystem of collection and processing centres. A new national scrap policy is already being finalised to align with the massive new targets.
- Vehicle Scrappage Policy (2021): This creates a formal channel for end-of-life vehicles, a huge source of high-quality steel scrap.
- GST & Tax Reforms: The introduction of measures like the Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) for scrap purchases from unregistered suppliers is a game-changer. It shifts the tax liability to the registered buyer, making it more expensive and complicated to buy from the informal sector. This is a direct push towards formal, GST-compliant transactions.
- Focus on Non-Ferrous: It's not just about steel. The Non-Ferrous Metal Scrap Recycling Framework of 2020 is designed to formalise and boost the recycling of aluminium, copper, lead, and zinc.