Rare earth recycling bet: Attero lines up a ₹2,000 crore expansion plan over the next three years

The company aims to scale up its rare earth recovery and recycling capacity in India to 100 tonne per day, from the current 1 tonne.

"Our (lithium ion) battery recycling capacity will increase to almost 300,000 tonne per annum from the current 17,000 tonne, almost 15 times the expansion," he said.

Attero currently recovers rare earth elements from used permanent magnets and exports its recycled rare earth products. It recovers minerals such as neodymium and seramium that find end use in the permanent magnets in automotive and defence sectors.

At a time when India is exploring ways to become self-reliant in critical minerals used in batteries, renewable energy components, defence and IT equipment, recycling of e-waste is increasingly seen as a major way to source these materials.

India generates over 3.8 million tonne of e-waste annually. While a significant portion still moves through informal routes, the share of formal processing is steadily increasing due to the enforcement of extended producer responsibility (EPR) and stricter compliance norms.

Gupta expects domestic demand to pick up as new capacities come up under the recently announced ₹7,800 crore magnet manufacturing scheme of the heavy industries ministry.

The company currently recycles rare earth elements at its Roorkee plant. It recently invested around ₹150 crore to expand its recycling and R&D network. It launched new e-waste recycling plants in Pune, Bengaluru and Faridabad, a copper recycling plant in Reengus, Rajasthan and a strengthened R&D centre of excellence in Greater Noida.

The three new e-waste plants have a capacity of 25,000 tonnes per annum each, adding 75,000 tonnes of fresh e-waste processing capacity. The copper recycling unit in Rajasthan adds another 25,000 tonnes, bringing total planned capacity additions to 100,000 tonnes per annum.

These facilities will support better feedstock availability for Attero’s business units, including Selsmart and MetalMandi, reduce long-distance movement of waste and improve access to formal recycling for India’s high-consumption markets, according to a company statement.

IPO plans

Speaking about Attero's fundraising plans, the CEO said it is looking at a public listing in the next two to three years. "There's enough (capital) and more interest from the market. From an IPO angle, we are obviously looking at a public listing in the next two to three years."

“We are a profitable company and we are growing 100% year-on-year and our profit margins are also increasing year on year. Last year, we did roughly around ₹1,000 crores in revenue. In FY24, we did roughly around ₹440 crores in revenue. In FY23, we did roughly around ₹280 crores," Gupta said.

The company logged about ₹14 crore in net profit in FY24.

"Our profit margin, will continue to improve going forward. So from a capital structure perspective, we obviously continue to look at debt, we continue to look at equity, and we will raise capital as and when we feel there's a need to do that," he said.

With increasing policy support for critical minerals, investor interest in recycling and refining companies is rising. In March, Mint reported that critical mineral processing firm Lohum is seeking to raise about $200 million from private equity investors ahead of a planned IPO in early 2027.

Under the ₹34,300 crore National Critical Mineral Mission launched in January, the Centre is promoting domestic recycling and refining to reduce reliance on China, which dominates over 90% of global critical mineral processing. The mines ministry is also preparing a ₹1,500 crore scheme to support critical mineral refining.

China accounts for 68.6% of global rare earth mining, followed by the US at 12.3%. These percentages are much higher than their corresponding shares in reserves (40% and 1.64%, respectively). India’s share in global reserves is at 6.27% but its share in mining is limited to 0.83%.

The Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 by the International Energy Agency showed that growing geopolitical tensions between regions and domestic governance issues in one of the largest suppliers can disrupt the demand and supply balances for these minerals that are essential for manufacturing high-performance permanent magnets used to build powerful motors for several cutting-edge applications, including EVs and wind turbines.

Although India has opened up rare earth mining in the country, it will take about four to five years for these mines to commence commercial operations. Till then, recycling would be the key domestic source.

Alekhya Datta, director, electricity and renewables division, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), said: "Recyclers must plan for phased ramp-up, interim offtake options, and working-capital buffers rather than assuming immediate commercial acceptance." According to experts, companies in rare earth refining space may also have to look at foreign collaboration for technology as the rare earth ecosystem in India is yet to develop.