Centre bans export of Li-ion battery waste, scrap to boost domestic recycling and critical mineral recovery

New Delhi: India has banned the export of lithium-ion battery black mass and related battery waste with immediate effect, a move aimed at building a resilient local ecosystem for battery recycling and refining, as well as improving domestic recovery of critical minerals including lithium.

In a notification issued on Tuesday, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) amended the export policy for “waste and scrap of primary cells, primary batteries and electric accumulators; spent primary cells, spent primary batteries and spent electric accumulators – Unsorted and not containing lead, cadmium or mercury (Lithium-Ion Battery Black Mass)” from ‘free’ to ‘prohibited’.

Essential Inputs across Sectors

The development comes a week after the Union cabinet cleared a Rs 2,814-crore scheme to provide capital expenditure support for critical mineral processing.


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Lithium-ion battery black mass is the powdery material obtained from shredding end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and battery manufacturing waste. It contains recoverable quantities of critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese. The recycling of black mass can help recover these materials, which can be reused to make new batteries.

The government said the export prohibition is intended to ensure that black mass generated in India is recycled and refined within the country.

“The measure is expected to assure feedstock availability for domestic recycling and refining units, improve their capacity utilisation and encourage further investment and employment in the sector,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

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Critical minerals are essential inputs for electric mobility, advanced chemistry cell batteries, energy storage, electronics and renewable energy. The measure is crucial as India depends substantially on imports for several of these minerals.

The move is significant as China controls almost 90% of global critical mineral processing and refining capacity.

“Recycling battery waste is among the quickest and most sustainable ways of developing a domestic supply of these resources,” the ministry said. “While the country’s capacity to recycle battery waste and refine critical minerals from it has grown considerably, it is not being fully utilised due to inadequate feedstock availability.”