India's Battery Waste Management Rules 2022, enforced from 2025, are causing significant concern among dry cell battery manufacturers. The rules mandate a 50% collection target in the first year and require companies to buy Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) certificates from authorized recyclers. Industry leaders like Eveready and Panasonic warn that compliance costs could far exceed their profits, with estimates showing EPR costs four times the sector's total profitability. They argue the framework was designed for lithium-ion batteries, not zinc-carbon cells which make up 85% of India's battery market. Technical barriers compound the financial strain. Current recycling technology cannot recover zinc at sufficient purity to reuse in new batteries, making strict reuse targets unrealistic. Collection rates currently sit around 20%, far below the mandated 50%. Companies like Eveready Industries and Indo National (maker of Nippo batteries) are under investor scrutiny as these rules threaten margins and operations. The industry is urging the government to phase in targets gradually over 6-7 years, as done globally, to allow recycling infrastructure to develop.
