City-based NavPrakriti has invested ₹25 crore to set up a battery recycling plant in Bengal and has plans to foray into chemical recovery and battery refurbishment in the coming years.
The expansion comes at a time when India is looking to develop at least 270 kilo tonnes of annual recycling capacity, resulting in around 40 kilo tonnes of annual critical mineral production, and the Union government has announced a ₹1,500-crore incentive scheme to draw investments in this sector. Established in 2024, the company is currently focusing on processing end-of-life batteries from various sources, including consumer products, telecom and industrial users.
“We are looking to develop eastern India’s first large-scale lithium-ion battery recycling company. So, in 2024, my brother and I co-founded NavPrakriti. We are based in Calcutta and our factory is in Serampore. We have installed a machine with an annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes and with demand, we can easily scale it up to 24,000 tonnes,” said Akhilesh Bagaria, founder of NavPrakriti, a bootstrapped company. Bootstrapping is the practice of starting and growing a business using one’s own resources, rather than relying on venture capital or loans.
The company has already invested around ₹25 crore and its plant focuses on the recovery of aluminium, copper, plastic and intermediary products rich in nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium.
Bagaria said that the company has an expansion plan, which could result in a further investment of ₹60-75 crore.
“Our expansion will happen in stages. We are working on setting up a refurbishment unit. We think that not every battery needs to be recycled, and in some cases, there is a second life in them. Our long-term goal is also to get into refining. We want to take out high-quality cobalt and lithium for reuse. We have already tied up with C-Met Hyderabad, which has helped us with technology development,” he said.
Developing ecosystem
The company currently sources its feedstock primarily from the unorganised sector. However, there are several large lithium-ion cell manufacturing gigafactories being set up across the country.
Bagaria said the company is exploring partnerships with battery manufacturers and OEMs for collection and recycling under the EPR (extended producer responsibility) framework.
EPR is an environmental policy framework that holds producers, importers and brand owners accountable for the environmentally sound management of their products until the end of their life cycle, specifically for the waste generated after consumer use.
As the indigenous ecosystem develops, Bagaria said that the company is also exploring import options from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan to source end-of-life batteries for recycling, which could significantly boost the company’s revenue.