A new report by RMI and the India Foundation shows how India has an opportunity to grow its economy, strengthen its manufacturing competitiveness, and move toward an energy-independent future through battery circularity.
NEW DELHI, Nov. 18, 2025 -- India stands at the cusp of a ₹75,500 crore opportunity in circular battery value creation. The report, Charting a Circular Battery Future for India, highlights how scaling domestic battery reuse, repurposing, and recycling can anchor this future — strengthening manufacturing competitiveness, reducing dependence on imported critical minerals, and advancing India's National Critical Minerals Mission toward true energy independence.
India's battery demand could rise more than 40 times by 2050, with EVs accounting for 80 percent of lithium-ion use by 2035. Without circular systems, this growth risks deepening mineral dependence and increasing waste. Building a circular battery economy focused on reuse, repurposing, and recycling can turn this challenge into a strategic advantage.
By recovering materials now lost as scrap, India could meet over 40 percent of its lithium, nickel, and cobalt needs by 2050, create more than 100,000 green jobs, and reduce air pollution. Investing in battery circularity can give India a distinct global edge. By harnessing its agile start-up ecosystem, India can lead in battery reuse, repurposing, and recycling; meeting growing global demand for low-cost, fair-trade, and circular battery solutions.
This report outlines a roadmap to unlock innovation, mobilise capital, and grow India's battery circularity market, transforming used batteries and e-waste from a challenge into a resource for self-reliance and an energy-independent future.
Read the report: https://rmi.org/xx
Quotes
Akshima Ghate, Managing Director, RMI India Program:
"Circularity is more than waste management; -; it is a strategic lever for resource security and industrial leadership. By embracing it, India's agile battery economy can unlock greater domestic value, build resilient supply chains, and create thousands of green jobs that power both progress and livelihoods."
Dr. Ram Madhav, President, India Foundation
India's clean energy transition presents a historic opportunity for us to lead by example. By embracing circular thinking of reusing, repurposing and recycling batteries, we can turn current challenges into future strengths. What was once considered waste can become wealth, fueling innovation, creating jobs and fostering self-reliance. This partnership between India Foundation and RMI demonstrates our shared belief that sustainability and growth can coexist, and that India can set a global standard for a truly circular battery future.
Media Contact: Chris Potter, cpotter@rmi.org
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