Budget 2024: MRAI urges govt to remove duty on scrap imports

The Material Recycling Association of India has urged the government to remove the import duty on scrap of non-ferrous metals such as aluminium, copper, lead, zinc, and brass.

Scrap, which is the key raw material for the secondary sector, is not available in sufficient quantity in India.

A tonne of aluminium produced through recycling emits only 0.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide, compared to 14 tonnes of carbon emissions from aluminium produced through the smelter route, which requires maintaining a huge coal-based power capacity.

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In a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, MRAI said the aluminium recycling industry is paying 2.5 per cent import duty on aluminium scrap and this should be removed until there is enough domestic supply.

The Union Budget will be presented on Tuesday.

The demand driver for aluminium in the next few years is going to be substantially higher due to India’s projected higher growth in GDP and infrastructure development, it said.

The production of primary aluminium metal is also associated with the consumption of large volumes of natural resources such as bauxite ore and coal, and the generation of large quantities of solid waste, it noted.

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Sanjay Mehta, President, MRAI, said recycling also helps to combat the climate crisis by limiting the use of raw materials, protecting natural resources such as bauxite, and reducing the waste going to landfills.

“If customs duties are applicable on import of scrap, then commensurate export duties on primary products should also be levied,” he said.

Dhawal Shah, Sr VP, MRAI, said that worldwide, metal scrap, especially that of aluminium, is considered the greenest raw material used for metal production, and the levy of import duty on it will be retrograde, besides decelerating efforts in reaching sustainability goals.

Mohan Agarwal, MD, CMR Green Technologies, urged the government to address the dual problem of inverted duty structure and hugely deficient domestic availability by removing duty on aluminium scrap.

Overall, aluminium has a host of applications in diverse sectors such as power, transportation, building, construction, packaging, electrical power transmission, machinery, equipment, and many more.

More importantly, Indian aluminium casting is heavily used by domestic and global automobile companies. North America, Europe, and Asia are significant markets for Indian aluminium castings.