India's Draft Steel Policy Plans for 123 Million Tonnes of Scrap a Year by 2047, Almost All of It Collected at Home. Comments Close on 30 October.

The Ministry of Steel released its draft National Steel Policy: Vision 2047 on 10 October 2026. It will replace the National Steel Policy of 2017, which set the industry's roadmap up to 2030-31. The new draft looks 21 years ahead, to a country making far more steel than it did in 2025-26, and it gives scrap a clear place in that plan.

For scrap businesses, three points stand out from the draft itself:

1. Scrap volumes are planned to more than triple, from 36 million tonnes in 2025-26 to 123 million tonnes in 2047-48.
2. Almost all of that has to be collected in India. Domestic scrap generation must nearly quadruple, while imports are planned to rise only from 8 million tonnes to 12 million tonnes.
3. Scrap's share of steelmaking does not rise. The draft aims to keep it at about 21%, the same as in 2025-26, even though a ministry official spoke in January 2026 of moving towards the global average of about 31%.

The ministry is taking suggestions on the draft until 30 October 2026.

The numbers at a glance

All figures are from the draft policy. The multiple in the third row is our own calculation from the draft's figures.

What the draft says about scrap

The draft describes scrap as an important secondary input that lowers the need for fresh raw materials and logistics, and helps cut emissions. In 2025-26, India used 36 million tonnes of scrap to make steel: 28 million tonnes generated in India and 8 million tonnes imported. That scrap fed about 21% of India's crude steel output.

The draft then projects the path to 2047-48:

Source: draft National Steel Policy: Vision 2047. MT = million tonnes.

Imports fall from 22% of scrap use in 2025-26 to about 10% by 2047-48 in this projection. (Our own calculation from the table above.) In other words, the plan is built on Indian scrap, not imported scrap.

The share of scrap stays where it is

The draft states plainly that it "aims to maintain the current 21% scrap share in steel production". Scrap grows because steelmaking grows, not because each tonne of steel uses more of it.

That is a more cautious goal than some earlier signals. At an industry conference in January 2026, a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Steel said India aimed to raise scrap's share of steelmaking progressively towards the global average of about 31%. The draft does not set that goal.

The draft's own projections put crude steel output at about 531 million tonnes in 2047. On that basis, 123 million tonnes of scrap would be about 23% of output, close to the draft's own figure of about 21%. (Our own calculation: 123 divided by 531.) Either way, the plan keeps scrap at roughly one-fifth of steelmaking.

The real target is collection at home

To reach 111 million tonnes, India has to collect about four times as much domestic scrap as it did in 2025-26. The early years are the steepest part of the draft's own curve. Domestic generation is projected to rise from 28 million tonnes to 49 million tonnes by 2030-31, which works out to about 11.8% a year for the next five years. (Our own calculation, compounded annually.)

The draft names where it expects the extra scrap to come from: household goods, old and obsolete items, building demolition waste, industrial assets stuck in disputes, and end-of-life vehicles. It says much of this scrap is not being collected at present and proposes a nationwide collection drive, run in mission mode and modelled on the Swachh Bharat campaign, to move it into formal recycling.

The draft does not yet say who would run this drive or how material would be collected and paid for. That matters for the trade. According to the Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI), nearly one-third of India's scrap comes from ragpickers, households and small workshops, the network kabadiwalas and small dealers already serve. Whether the drive works through that network or around it is the single biggest question for small scrap businesses in this draft.

EPR spreads beyond vehicles

The draft lists four routes to more domestic scrap:

• the Vehicle Scrapping Policy;
• modernising and expanding ship recycling;
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), not only for end-of-life vehicles but also for construction waste and consumer durables;
• the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, which the draft expects to reward scrap use for its lower carbon footprint.

EPR for end-of-life vehicles already exists, and scrap supply from vehicles has fallen well short of demand, as we reported in our story on the truck scheme. The mention of consumer durables in this list is significant for dealers in old appliances and household metal, though the draft gives no details.

Ships, stainless steel and the EU

On ship recycling, the draft notes that India scraps roughly a third of all ships recycled worldwide by tonnage, but that Indian yards cannot take EU-flagged ships unless they are on the European Union's approved list. It proposes upgrading yards and agreeing mutual recognition with the European Commission, so that any yard holding certification from India's Ship Recycling Board would qualify without a separate EU listing. That would widen the supply of ships for Alang, which has been running far below capacity, as we reported in our Alang story.

For stainless steel, the draft proposes a full system for scrap: collecting and sorting it, processing and certifying it, tracking where it comes from and recycling it through organised units. It would start by mapping the clusters where stainless scrap is generated and setting up processing units there.

The draft's import target sits alongside a separate risk: the EU is preparing a list of countries allowed to keep receiving its metal scrap after May 2027, and India is not on the draft list for metal scrap, as we explained in our report on the EU list.

Who buys the scrap

Scrap matters most to the secondary steel sector: about 2,550 units with nearly 47% of India's crude steel capacity, including every induction furnace in the country. The draft gives the typical scrap share of each route:

Source: draft National Steel Policy: Vision 2047. Re-rolling mills (1,254 units) and ferro alloy units (150) make up the rest of the 2,550.

The draft's 2047 assumptions keep a place for induction furnaces at 15% of production, with scrap at 46% of their charge, and electric arc furnaces at 30%, with scrap at 20%.

One gap stands out. The draft's support measures for secondary steel promise better access to iron ore, technology upgrades, skills and safety, but say nothing specific about access to scrap, even though induction furnaces depend on it most. That is a point mills and scrap suppliers may want to raise in their suggestions.

How to send suggestions

The draft and the feedback form are on the Ministry of Steel's website, steel.gov.in. The form asks for an organisation name, name, email, telephone number and the suggestions, and allows a file to be attached. The last date is 30 October 2026.

What this means for you

Kabadiwalas and small scrap dealers: the draft wants far more household and small-workshop scrap in the formal system. A collection drive could bring more material and more buyers, or it could route material around you. Being registered and keeping records is the easiest way to stay inside the formal chain, and this is the moment to tell the ministry how the drive should work for small collectors.

Aggregators and scrap yards: a near-quadrupling of domestic scrap means more sorting, processing and grading capacity will be needed. The draft's stress on certification and traceability, spelled out for stainless steel, points to where buyers will set the bar.

Vehicle scrapping centres and shipbreakers: you are named directly. EPR for vehicles and a route for Alang yards to qualify for EU-flagged ships are both in the draft, but neither comes with timelines yet.

Induction furnace and electric arc furnace mills: your scrap needs are built into the plan, but scrap access is missing from the support measures for your sector. If that matters to your business, say so before 30 October.

Stainless steel scrap traders: the draft proposes a dedicated collection and processing system for stainless scrap. Watch for which clusters are chosen.

What to watch

1. 30 October 2026: last date for suggestions on the draft.
2. The final policy: the ministry has not given a date. The scrap targets and the collection drive could change after the consultation.
3. The standalone steel scrap recycling policy: in January 2026, the ministry said a new policy to replace the 2019 one was being finalised. The draft does not say when it will come.
4. Details of the collection drive: who runs it, how collectors are paid and where formal collection points are set up.
5. 21 November 2026: the EU's first list of countries allowed to keep receiving its waste exports, which affects India's scrap imports from Europe.

The bottom line

The draft National Steel Policy plans for India to use more than three times as much scrap by 2047-48, and to find almost all of it at home. It does not plan for scrap to make up a bigger share of each tonne of steel. For scrap businesses, the opportunity is in volume and collection, and the open question is who does the collecting. Until 30 October, the ministry is asking.