Page 46 from: September 2014

46 September 2014

Essential
turnaround

wishful
thinking?

Although the Indian metals recycling industry is striving for

progress, the complications facing the sector are still many in

number, including in particular: the import duty on all grades

of metal scrap; the inverted customs duty structure; and a

lack of supportive domestic laws and legislation. Alternative

approaches featured high on the agenda at the latest gather-

ing of the Metal Recycling Association of India.

In early August, the Metal Recycling Association of India (MRAI) hosted its third annual gen-
eral meeting and conference. Held in Mumbai,

the event was attended by more than 400 dele-

gates from India and overseas. And in his opening

speech, MRAI president Ikbal Nathani wasted no

time in identifying several of the key issues facing

the country’s metals recycling industry.

‘The challenges facing the Indian metals recy-

cling industry are many – notably, the current

import duties levied on all grades of metal

scrap,’ Nathani said, and he went on to urge the

Indian government to abolish these. Another

concern is that the Indian government has

signed free trade agreements which have result-

ed in an inverted duty structure, under which

finished goods are taxed at a lower rate than

raw materials in order to boost the manufactur-

ing sector. Nathani called on the government

not only to review these trade agreements but

also to promote free trade of metal scrap.

The same speaker also lamented the lack of a

formal, organised metal recycling industry

structure in India, as well as the absence of cen-

tral and state government support to promote

and provide incentives for metals recycling.

‘There are hardly any domestic laws and legis-

lation that assist and apply to the domestic met-

als recycling industry, such as, for instance,

end-of-life vehicle legislation,’ he pointed out.

Nathani also highlighted the desire to create

specially-designated zones for metals recycling

in each of India’s major cities and the argument

for the industry to be given the opportunity to

receive carbon credits.

Industry ‘should be supported’
Shri Kalraj Mishra, union cabinet minister

from the Ministry of Micro Small and Medium

Enterprises, said in response to the MRAI

president’s speech that ‘the recycling industry

should be supported, it should be given prior-

ity and it should be promoted as it is promoted

in China’. He also assured delegates that the

government would look into the problems

addressed by Nathani in the near future.

The presentation from MRAI’s vice president

non-ferrous Dhawal Shah of Metco spotlighted

‘game changers’ in the non-ferrous market. As

Shah saw it, these were: for copper, misrepre-

sented LME inventories and the slowdown in the

Chinese economy; for aluminium, physical mate-

rial still locked in financing deals, with tightening

availability and premiums at their highest level;

M e t a l s i n i n d i a By Manfred Beck

RI-7 India metals.indd 46 28-08-14 15:01