Centre Bans Export Of Lithium-Ion Battery Black Mass, Battery Waste And Scrap

New Delhi, Nov 12 (KNN) The Centre has prohibited the export of waste and scrap from primary cells, batteries and electric accumulators, including lithium-ion battery black mass, with immediate effect.

DGFT Revises Export Policy

In a notification, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, amended the export policy for the products from 'Free' to 'Prohibited' until further orders.

The amendment has been issued under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992. Transitional arrangements under Para 1.05 of the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 will apply.

Move To Strengthen Domestic Battery Recycling

The move aims to strengthen domestic battery recycling capacity and improve the recovery of critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel from used batteries.

Black mass, generated by shredding spent lithium-ion batteries, contains these valuable minerals, which can be recovered for manufacturing new batteries.

Government Flags Limited Black Mass Processing Capacity

The government had earlier highlighted India's limited capacity to process black mass and extract critical minerals, noting that some of the material was being exported without recovering its valuable components.

Under its Rs 1,500-crore incentive scheme for critical mineral recycling, launched in September, the government aims to expand domestic capacity to recover such materials from spent batteries and electronic waste.

(KNN Bureau)