Keeping battery black mass at home is sound. The ban now needs one waste rule and public capacity numbers

On November 10 the Directorate General of Foreign Trade changed one line in the export policy. Lithium-ion battery black mass, the dark powder left when used batteries are shredded, moved from “Free” to “Prohibited”, with immediate effect and until further orders. The idea behind it is sound. The way it is carried out needs more work.

Black mass holds lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite. India imports most of these metals for its electric vehicles and storage batteries, so it makes little sense to ship recoverable ones abroad while recyclers at home go short. The ban follows a request from Attero Recycling, and it fits the ₹1,500 crore Cabinet scheme of September 2025 meant to help recover critical minerals from waste.

The gap the ban does not close

A ban moves material only if there is somewhere for it to go. In January 2025 the Environment Ministry’s Technical Review Committee noted that 16 units in India process lithium-ion batteries, and 12 of them also process black mass, with a combined input capacity of 75,500 tonnes a year. That count is almost two years old. Nobody outside the industry knows how much black mass is produced now, how much refining capacity is idle, or whether the two match.

The same committee found something more basic. State pollution control boards classify black mass differently: some as hazardous waste, others as “metal oxide powder” or even a product. It recommended treating it as hazardous waste unless it is processed on the same premises. An export ban settles where black mass may not go. It does not settle what it is, and an exporter, a shredder and a customs officer can hold three different answers.

The fair objection

Industry accounts say that refiners in China and South Korea can often pay more and settle faster than Indian buyers, so some material has left, and a few Indian refiners were left short of feedstock. If that is right, the ban corrects a real distortion, and waiting for perfect data would let more of it leave. Governments in a hurry have reason to act first.

That is fair. It is also why the second half of the job has to follow quickly. Shredders who cannot sell abroad, and cannot find a domestic buyer at a fair price, face a stockpile of powder that is classed as hazardous in one state and as a product in another. Stored badly, it is a safety and pollution risk, not an asset.

What the Centre should do

First, the Environment Ministry and the Central Pollution Control Board should issue one national classification for black mass, so that storage, transport and processing rules are the same in every state.

Second, the Commerce and Environment ministries should publish a current count of recycler capacity and black mass output, updated every quarter, so that the market can see whether the domestic system can absorb what the ban keeps at home.

Third, the notification should carry a review date. “Until further orders” is an open-ended prohibition. A six-month review, with the capacity numbers in hand, would let the government keep the ban, narrow it or widen it on evidence.

Fourth, the DGFT should clarify the position of shipments already contracted or sitting at ports. At the time of writing no clarification had been issued.

Recycling is meant to supply a growing share of India’s battery metals. Keeping the powder at home is the first step. A clear rule, a visible count and a date for review are what turn it into an industry.

The reporting behind this view

• November 10date of DGFT Notification 49/2026-27 prohibiting black mass exports
• 75,500 tonnesyearly input capacity of the 12 Indian units that process black mass, per the January 2025 committee note
• ₹1,500 croreCabinet scheme of September 2025 to recover critical minerals from waste