AM/NS India commissions first dedicated scrap processing facility
By Payal Banarjee
Mumbai/ Khopoli/ Delhi, Mar 27: ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) has commissioned its first scrap processing facility at its Khopoli manufacturing site in Maharashtra, with an annual capacity of 120kilo tonnes per annum (KTPA). The Khopoli unit is the first of four scrap processing units being developed by AM/NS India nationally as part of a ₹350 crore investment programme to meet the growing demand for high-quality scrap for its steel production and strengthen domestic scrap supply chains.
India’s scrap supply chain is currently highly fragmented, with materials passing through multiple intermediaries – from local scrap collectors to scrapyards – before reaching the consumption points. This complex process inflates costs, diminishes material quality and adds little value across the chain. By processing scrap at its own facilities, AM/NS India is enhancing material quality and yield while reducing conversion and logistics costs, all while formalising the scrap industry.
The commissioning of the Khopoli unit and the larger rollout follows a successful pilot project to process scrap at scale, important to meet the rising demand for recycled steels across AM/NS India’s wide customer base, including automotive manufacturers and ship fleet operators.
Government initiatives such as the Vehicle Scrappage Policy (2021), Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) norms – set to take effect in April 2025 – and the Green Steel Taxonomy are also expected to boost domestic scrap availability. AM/NS India’s growing scrap processing capacity will support national efforts to strengthen domestic scrap availability and supply chain efficiency.
Akshaya Gujral, Executive Director of Downstream Operations at ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India), said, “India aims to increase the share of scrap metal in steel production to 50% by 2047. The steel sector has an important role in developing the infrastructure and ecosystem to support this ambition. Our Khopoli unit, and others that will come on stream this year, will support the formalisation of the domestic scrap industry, service growing customer demand for recycled steels, and contribute to India’s sustainability goals.”
As part of a decarbonisation roadmap set out in its inaugural Climate Action Report in 2024, AM/NS India aims to increase scrap mix in steelmaking capacity to over 10% by 2030 (from 3-5% today). The company is strategically integrating high-quality scrap into its production, with 65% of its existing steelmaking capacity operating on the gas-based Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) – Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) route, a process particularly well-suited for utilising processed scrap.
