MESSAGE FROM MUMBAI
75recyclinginternational.com | September/October | 2025
The events of the last couple of weeks remind me of a
scene from the famous movie ‘Rocky Balboa’ where a
father, who is a professional boxer, shares some words of
wisdom with his young son. ‘The world ain’t all sunshine
and rainbows,’ he says. ‘It’s a very mean and nasty place.
And it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard
you can get hit and still keep moving forward. It’s how
much you can take. That’s how winning is done.’
LIKE A TORPEDO
Cut and paste to India. The 50% trade tariffs levied by
President Donald Trump hit like a torpedo, not just jeop-
ardising routine trade but also causing loss of trust in a
well-nurtured relationship between India and the United
States.
The penal tariffs lacked substance, rationality and logic,
singling out India for buying Russian oil but turning a blind
eye on others. It means India will suffer economically for
not toeing the line required by President Trump.
BALANCE AND FOCUS
But as it goes in boxing – the match ain’t over when you
take a blow and fall down. It’s over when you can’t get up.
And I think India did very well by quickly getting back on
its feet and finding its balance and focus. From the
cacophony of doubters sitting across the Atlantic, declar-
ing India a ‘dead economy’, there quickly emerged a story
of resilience.
Second quarter GDP data was rolled out recently and it
showed a healthy growth of 7.8% – perhaps the strongest
number amongst all large economies. The government is
undertaking major reforms in tax rates for goods and ser-
vices – simplifying them to a lower, two-rate structure. This
could provide further impetus to the Indian industry –
which could improve its competitiveness.
FRESH HIRING
Further India has opened up trade settlements in rupees,
which would allow its foreign trading partners to directly
transact through vostro accounts [accounts held by a for-
eign bank in local currency], without using US dollars.
Over the last 12 months, more than 30 000 people in
India have been hired by American giants like Meta,
Google, Apple, Amazon and Netflix – vesting faith in
India’s strong IT infrastructure. So, despite all the rants,
rhetorics and reprimands, India knows to script its own
story and live it.
The elephant may be slow, stiff and steady but it can
break into a dance with the dragon whilst listening to the
Russian Kalinka folk song when needed.
Dhawal Shah
From his home and work base in Mumbai, non-ferrous scrap
trader Dhawal Shah of Metco Ventures shares his thoughts on
how India is becoming the world’s new recycling frontier.
Scripting our
own story
75_columndhawalshah.indd 75 09-09-2025 13:34
