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India became the world’s leading ship recycling nation in 2025, with its global market share increasing from 30.1% in 2024 to 35.4% in 2025.

Its ship recycling volume rose from 1.86 million Gross Tonnes (GT) to 2.99 million GT, registering nearly 60% growth. India has thereby achieved the Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 objective of becoming the world’s leading ship-recycling nation five years ahead of schedule.

India’s Growing Ship Recycling Sector

Ship recycling is an important component of the maritime lifecycle as it enables end-of-life vessels to be dismantled while recovering steel and other reusable materials. When undertaken under appropriate environmental and safety standards, it contributes to resource security, circular economy and decarbonisation. Recycled steel requires substantially less energy than primary steel production and therefore helps reduce pressure on natural resources and greenhouse-gas emissions. The industry also generates employment and supports ancillary sectors such as transport, steel re-rolling, equipment supply and waste management.

The Alang-Sosiya cluster in Gujarat is the backbone of India’s ship recycling industry, accounting for around 98% of national recycling activity and having an annual capacity of approximately 6 million GT. It produces around 3.50 million metric tonnes of steel annually and is supported by authorised recycling yards, downstream re-rolling mills and waste-management infrastructure. India now plans to nearly double its ship recycling capacity to around 9 million Light Displacement Tons (LDT) through the expansion of the Alang Ship Recycling Yard.

Regulatory and Institutional Framework

India has progressively strengthened the regulation of ship recycling through the Ship Recycling Act, 2019, which provides the principal legal framework and designates the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) as the National Authority. The Ship Recycling Rules, 2021 prescribe requirements relating to facility authorisation, ship-recycling plans, hazardous-material management, worker safety, training and reporting. The Ship Recycling Regulations, 2026 further strengthen operational, environmental and safety standards across recycling facilities.

Indian yards have also been modernised through engineered recycling plots, impermeable surfaces, drainage systems, mechanised handling equipment, segregated hazardous-waste storage and authorised waste-disposal linkages. More than 1.5 lakh workers have been trained at the Safety Training and Labour Welfare Institute at Alang-Sosiya in occupational safety, hazardous-material handling and emergency response.

Alignment with Global Standards

India has aligned its regulatory framework with the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC), which entered into force on 26 June 2025. Government financial assistance of ?53.5 crore has supported the modernisation of 115 ship recycling facilities to meet Convention requirements. Further, 35 Alang yards have applied for inclusion in the EU list of approved ship-recycling facilities, with inspections underway.

The Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) is another important component of the framework. It identifies hazardous substances present aboard ships and enables their safe management before recycling, improving traceability, transparency and risk mitigation.

Linking Ship Recycling with Shipbuilding

The Ship-breaking Credit Note Scheme, introduced under the Ship Building Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFA) 2.0, seeks to create a link between ship recycling and domestic shipbuilding. It provides a credit equivalent to 40% of the recycled vessel’s scrap value, which can be used towards the purchase of a new vessel built in India, subject to a ceiling of 5% of the value of the new vessel. This creates a policy linkage between recycling, domestic steel recovery and indigenous shipbuilding.