India achieved global leadership in ship recycling in 2025, capturing 35.4% of the world market share, up from 30.1% in 2024. The country's ship recycling volume increased by nearly 60% from 1.86 million gross tons to 2.99 million gross tons, achieving the Maritime India Vision 2030 target five years ahead of schedule.
The Alang-Sosiya ship recycling cluster in Gujarat serves as the backbone of India's capacity, accounting for approximately 98% of the country's ship recycling activity. The cluster has an annual recycling capacity of around 6 million gross tons and produces approximately 3.50 million metric tonnes of steel annually without exploiting natural resources. India aims to nearly double its ship recycling capacity to about 9 million light displacement tons through planned development of the Alang Ship Recycling Yard.
India has established a comprehensive regulatory framework consisting of the Ship Recycling Act 2019, Ship Recycling Rules 2021, and Ship Recycling Regulations 2026, which align domestic practices with the Hong Kong International Convention that came into force on June 26, 2025. Financial assistance of ₹53.5 crore has been provided for modernizing ship recycling yards, helping 115 facilities achieve compliance with the Hong Kong Convention.
The sector provides significant environmental benefits through proper handling of hazardous materials and prevention of marine pollution. It contributes to resource security by providing ferrous scrap for the domestic steel industry, reducing dependence on imported raw materials. The recycling process requires substantially less energy than primary steel production and results in lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Economically, the sector generates large-scale employment and supports ancillary industries including transport, re-rolling mills, equipment suppliers, and waste management services. The Safety Training and Labour Welfare Institute at Alang-Sosiya has trained over 150,000 workers in occupational safety, hazardous material handling, and emergency response.
Additional facilities include ship recycling yards at Amar Iron Udyog in Kolkata and Steel Industrials Kerala Limited (SILK) in Kerala. Thirty-five ship recycling yards at Alang have applied for EU green-listing, with Shree Ram Vessel Scrap and Y. S. Investments included in the draft of the 16th European List of Ship Recycling Facilities.
The Ship-breaking Credit Note Scheme under the Ship Building Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFA) 2.0 incentivizes ship recycling by issuing a Credit Note equivalent to 40% of the recycled ship's scrap value, which can be used toward payment of up to 5% of the value of a new vessel built at an Indian shipyard.
The recycling of Ex-INS Viraat at Alang showcased India's capabilities, handling a vessel that served 57 years between the Royal Navy and Indian Navy, logged 22,622 flying hours, spent 2,252 days at sea, and sailed over 588,000 nautical miles.