India is to introduce incentives for recycling 24 key minerals this year such as lithium and cobalt, two people familiar with the issue stated, as part of the effort to secure the minerals for clean energy transition. India has shortlisted the 24 minerals as strategic and essential to its struggle to achieve clean energy objectives and reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070.

It has already allocated Rs 1,500 crore for recycling of these minerals as part of an Rs 16,300 crore expenditure to develop the critical minerals industry. The incentives may be in the form of capital expenditure subsidies or production-linked incentives, the sources said, refusing to be named as the information is not public. One of the sources stated that the funds will be utilized in four to five years and should be enough to set the industry rolling.

In addition to that, the scheme is expected to boost India's ability to recycle lithium-ion batteries from the current 75,000 metric tons a year, according to one of the sources. In order to improve availability, the government in February abolished customs duty on a dozen vital items' waste and scrap of lead, zinc and cobalt powder, as well as lithium-ion batteries.

These are some of the key materials used in electric vehicles, whose manufacture India is attempting to promote in order to cut dependence on fossil fuels.EV sales accounted for just 2.5 percent of the 4.3 million cars sold in India in 2024, but were up 20 per cent against just 5 per cent for the overall car market. Analysts expect sales to double to around 200,000 in 2025, mainly due to new launches.