The Aluminium Association of India (AAI) has appealed to the Prime Minister’s Office to protect the domestic aluminium industry from a surge of low-quality aluminium scrap imports.
It said rising global protectionism has left India highly vulnerable, threatening the massive domestic investments and draining the nation’s exchequer.
The domestic aluminium industry is currently facing a severe “double-whammy” scenario, due to rising imports and declining access to export markets. AAI urged for enhancing basic customs duty (BCD), to curb the import surge.
Pointing out that the United States has hiked Section 232 national security duties to 50 per cent, the association said the EU is introducing the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) alongside safeguard investigations.
Lack of quality standards
“Mexico has aggressively hiked customs duties on Chapter 76 up to 35 per cent despite lacking primary smelting capacity,” it said.
With developed economies such as the US and EU restructuring regulations to retain high-quality scrap while exporting low-grade material ( which have less than 90 per cent aluminium content). Other nations such as Malaysia and China are curbing imports of poor-quality aluminium scrap.
“Due to the rising protectionism by developed economies, India is not just facing a major import threat from global aluminium surplus capacities but is facing imports of low-quality scrap due to absence of quality standards,” said.
In a representation to the PMO, AAI sought to strengthen the domestic market by imposing various trade measures, including higher import duty. Imports surged to 3.48 million tonnes in FY26, resulting in a forex outgo of over ₹88,400 crore.
It sought the publication of the final draft standard titled “Aluminium & Aluminium Alloy Scrap – Requirements & Conditions of Delivery”. This has been approved by NITI Aayog, BIS, JNARDDC and the BIS Working Group, to align India’s quality standards with global best practices and prevent the import of low-quality aluminium scrap.
‘Promote circular economy’
It said changes to aluminium scrap import duty should be made only after publication of the pending standard and introduction of grade-wise HSN codes, ensuring that only high-quality aluminium scrap is imported into India.
AAI sought promotion of the country’s circular economy by establishing a robust domestic aluminium scrap collection and recycling ecosystem. This will reduce the dependence on imported aluminium scrap, which led to a forex outgo of over ₹40,200 crore in FY26.
The association said the Indian aluminium industry contributes nearly ₹30,000 crore annually to the exchequer and provides over 8 lakh jobs across India’s hinterlands. Rising imports threaten over ₹3 lakh crore of planned investments by leading producers, which are expected to create more than 1 lakh jobs and double India’s primary aluminium production capacity to 9 MTPA by FY33 to meet growing domestic demand.
Published on July 3, 2026
