Let me step back a little bit. In 2014, when the current government originally came to power, there were a bunch of different themes that were the anchor themes of the government, such as circularity, energy transition, electric vehicles, Atmanirbharta etc. When we started out in 2018, we saw a gap in a lot of these areas and we felt that something could be done at the intersection of what energy transition needs, what EV needs, what circularity needs and what sustainability needs.

The government had just sort of started talking about critical minerals in 2017. Putting all that together, and given my own background of having looked at waste management, metals and related areas, I felt like there was a large opportunity to play out in the critical mineral space. More so because we knew at that point of time that 90–95 percent of critical minerals were being processed in China, so the world was going to look for an alternative. At that point of time people were not talking about China, but we did realise that this would eventually happen.

With that as a starting point, we thought about what could be an easy starting point for us within this broader critical mineral area, and we felt the low-hanging fruit was battery recycling. A battery has Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel and Graphite — four critical minerals which the government of India has deemed as critical. We started by figuring out how to recycle batteries and produce critical minerals, and then over the course of the last seven years, we’ve expanded our portfolio. We’ve moved into more critical minerals, more kinds of waste, taking mining concentrates, and we have forward integrated into value-added manufacturing. We continue to evolve every year.

Before Lohum, I had spent some time in the private equity industry and in advisory roles to companies in the waste management space. That is how I built my understanding of waste management. I was dabbling in the commodities market, so I built my understanding of metals and mineral commodities. I’ve also spent time in private equity to understand how private capital can flow into an area such as this.

It was an extensive exercise. My family contributed in doing a lot of research and ultimately, we found a word called Lohum in Sanskrit literature, which basically is Loha, or iron. Since we deal with metals, and iron is the king of all metals, this felt appropriate. At the same time, Lohum represents indigenising production of metals in the country.

We have three parts to our business: recycling, processing and manufacturing. Recycling is about collecting scrap from all over the world—India, the US, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan and Australia. We’re neutral to where we collect scrap from and bring in material from everywhere.

India has about 24 minerals deemed critical and a broader set of around 30. Any scrap containing critical minerals is of interest to us, provided we are dealing with those metals in our factories. The metals we work with include Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Aluminium, Zinc, Platinum-group metals and Rare Earth group metals. Graphite is a non-metal that we also handle.

After collection, we shred, sort and convert the material into powder. In batteries, this is called black mass. That processed material is then subjected to a series of chemical or high-temperature reactions. The industry uses terms like pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy, but fundamentally, it is a series of reactions through which you either create a chemical salt or a metal as output, which we sell in the market.

The third part is value-added manufacturing, which we started last year. We take our own products and convert them into customer-specific products such as cathode active material, catalysts, copper rods and wires. Then we’ve just announced our fourth category: Lohum will be venturing into magnets.

That’s true. For consumer product scrap, if there is a second or third life left, we try to segregate and put the working product back into the market before recycling. We do refurbish into energy storage systems, but that is a relatively small part of our business. Our main focus has always been extraction.

Batteries in India come from consumer electronics, EVs and battery energy storage systems. EVs and energy storage are largely formal sectors. Consumer electronics are heavily penetrated by the informal sector.

You have to work with both. One challenge is that batteries are hazardous waste and catch fire quickly, which has led to greater awareness even in the informal sector. We’ve been working with authorities and policymakers on how to formalise this sector further.

Sustainability is inherent in our process because we are not mining. Mining uses a lot of power and has a large carbon footprint. Recycling avoids much of that. The next step is lowering energy consumption in producing the final product, which is solved through technology. Our sustainability is inherent in the business model, and the technology we have developed reduces the carbon footprint even further.

We have waste of three kinds: solid, liquid or gas. Gaseous waste is limited to water vapour, and even that is minimal because we have a full water recycling system.

Solid waste is probably less than 0.001 percent and goes to ETB sludge. Every bit of material that comes to us is useful. We try to turn everything into an end product and sell it.

There are two things helping us. First, we are converters. If you are the lowest-cost converter, you will survive every crisis. That comes from technology, R&D and keeping energy and carbon footprints low. If you become a high-cost converter, you will be outcompeted.

Second, the world cannot get away from recycling anymore. You cannot landfill. There will always be demand to recycle and convert. My guiding philosophy is to engage with policymakers to ensure recycling mandates exist, and to build a world-class R&D team so we remain the lowest-cost converter.

The National Critical Mineral Mission is an excellent mission. The government has set up a USD 4-billion mission and it has created awareness and allowed private capital to flow. The recycling scheme is a Rs 1,500-crore initiative under a Rs 34,000-crore mission, and it’s a good first step.

However, I would have preferred the scheme not be so fragmented. A Rs 50-crore cap per organisation limits scale. India needs scale to compete with China. Schemes should allow three or four companies to build real capacity rather than fragmented capacity.

First, formalising the informal sector through GST rationalisation — scrap GST should come down to 5 percent from 18 percent. Second, schemes under the NCMM should not have small caps. Large caps force scale and reduce misuse. If you look at the magnet scheme that has come out, there the government has said that it’s a Rs 7,000-crore scheme and it will be distributed amongst five companies. That makes sense because you are suddenly upping the game, forcing companies to create scale. I think that is what will ultimately allow us to compete with China. So, we should have a similar perspective in the critical mineral recycling incentive scheme as well. Small caps, such as Rs 50 crore, quite honestly, are not meaningful for companies of our size, where such numbers can be easily raised from the private market. If we were talking about Rs 300-400 crores as cap, then it gives us a good incentive to go and do something meaningful, otherwise a lot of bad actors will go and misuse the scheme.

Third, the RDI fund should allocate more to advanced materials. Deep tech in India should go beyond AI and semiconductors into manufacturing.

We have an ambitious plan of becoming a Rs 10,000-crore company in the next three to four years.

In every area—Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt—we are talking about 5–10x expansion. This year we are commissioning a nickel project, a platinum project and a rare earth project. Over the next three to four years, we will set up two-to-three more projects.

That’s correct. We will do a pre-IPO round before that. We are looking to raise about Rs 1,000 crore.

We already collect scrap and have customers globally. One immediate plan is setting up the UAE’s first battery recycling factory in partnership with the UAE government, which we hope to get going in 2026.