India needs to strengthen its domestic scrap ecosystem through improved collection systems, formalization of the value chain, and development of processing infrastructure, according to a white paper released by India Green Steel Coalition (IGSC), on Friday, March 27.
Titled, ‘Closing the loop: Scrap markets to power India’s Green Steel Transition’, the paper calls for enabling policy support which will be critical in ensuring an efficient, transparent, and reliable supply of quality scrap at scale.
IGSC is a joint initiative of WWF-India and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and aims to promote green steel manufacturing and consumption in India through enabling policies and demand alignment.
As India’s steel production expands and increasingly shifts toward secondary steelmaking routes, the demand for scrap is set to rise sharply. The white paper underscores a growing appetite for scrap, particularly from electric arc furnace (EAF) and induction furnace (IF)-based producers, where scrap serves as a critical input for reducing carbon emissions by replacing primary raw materials and improving resource efficiency.
India currently consumes around 41 million mt of ferrous scrap annually, accounting for approximately 23 percent of crude steel production. Aligned with the government’s target to increase the share of scrap in steelmaking to 50 percent by 2047, total demand is projected to exceed 200 million mt in the long term. However, constraints in domestic scrap generation and collection systems are likely to limit supply growth.
Domestic availability of scrap is therefore unlikely to keep pace with this rising demand, with an estimated shortfall of 40-50 million mt. This emerging structural supply gap is expected to increase reliance on imports and exposure to global price and supply risks, elevating scrap from a traded commodity to a strategic resource for India’s steel sector, the paper said.
“Ferrous scrap must be recognized as a strategic resource for India’s steel sector, given its critical role in enabling near-term emissions reduction and improving resource efficiency. At the same time, achieving long-term and deeper decarbonization will require a dual transition pathway. While scrap-based steelmaking can act as an immediate lever, continued focus on scaling green hydrogen-based technologies and other low carbon solutions will be essential to meet India’s net zero ambitions and build a truly future-ready steel sector, WWF’s director of sustainable business, Vishal Dev, said.
