India's battery recycling sector offers lifeline to global EV players as China tightens mineral exports
battery recycling ecosystem
players including Vedanta and Lohum this week, in what is being seen as a push to diversify away from China-dominated supply chains.
The visit comes on the heels of China tightening export controls on essential rare earth elements — including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium — that are critical to high-performance permanent magnets used in EVs, smartphones, and defence applications. The restrictions have triggered alarm among global automakers, who now face the twin challenges of production delays and rising input costs.
India and Japan are learned to have initiated discussions to chart a response, with supply chain resilience high on the agenda. These talks have culminated in the Battery and Critical Minerals Ecosystem Conference being held today at the Embassy of Japan in Delhi, where government officials, OEMs, financiers, and recycling firms from Japan, India, Australia and the US are participating. The Conference will host sessions focused on challenges in refining, recycling, and securing anchor off-takers, all key gaps in India's critical minerals and battery ecosystem.
While India is scaling up lithium exploration and refining capabilities, experts say recycling offers a more immediate and scalable solution. Refining and processing capacity remains heavily concentrated in a few countries, posing significant technical and geopolitical risks to global EV and clean tech growth.
The conference will also feature closed-door business-to-business (B2B) meetings between Indian recyclers, global OEMs, and financial institutions such as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Tata Capital's Decarbonisation Fund, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The idea is to ensure financial backing and anchor customers for new entrants in India's recycling and refining space. Discussions will cover bankability, joint R&D, and long-term offtake agreements — all seen as prerequisites for breaking the dominance of traditional players in the battery and minerals sector.
China's tightening grip has forced a rethink in the way global supply chains are structured, with recycling now viewed as a strategic lever — not just an environmental necessity. For India, it opens a window to position itself as a reliable, democratic alternative for critical mineral recovery.
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