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


