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Good Morning. Good morning. In a recent conversation with The Core, the chairman of the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Arvinder Singh Sahney, said that while critical minerals had become a point of concern for India, the country’s growing e-waste could be part of the solution. Sahney isn’t the only industry leader who is seeing recycling as beyond a CSR project. Many big companies are integrating recycling into their main businesses. But will this streak continue?
India’s equity benchmarks broke their five-day losing streak. The BSE Sensex closed at 83,878.17, adding 301.93 points, or 0.36%. The NSE Nifty50 closed at 25,790.25, gaining 106.95 points, or 0.42%.
In other news, India and Germany pitch for a trade deal, while the US says it’s still on the table for negotiation. Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki is expanding its manufacturing capacity.
The Indian Recycling Industry Is Booming. Can It Last?
What?
India’s recycling industry is currently spoilt for attention. Pick any metric to gauge the growth of the sector, and it points to a double-digit expansion. A mix of fluctuating global commodity prices, a surging demand for critical minerals, and the country’s sharpening green ambitions has built immense interest in the recycling space. Yet, as capital floods into what was once a fringe market, the fundamental question remains — will this momentum sustain?
The industry is currently in the midst of a definitive "up-cycle," driven by momentum that has been carefully built over the last five years. The financial results of early movers are telling.
Jain Resource Recycling, one of the most recent recycler stocks to list on the public markets, has reported a nearly threefold rise in pre-tax earnings between FY23 and FY25. This financial performance is not an outlier but a symptom of a broader structural shift in how India handles its metal waste.
The granular data for metal recycling between FY20 and FY25 shows aggressive expansion. Lead sourcing from the secondary market has effectively doubled in the five-year window. Secondary aluminium has grown by another third, and copper has expanded by a quarter.
The story is equally compelling in the case of electronic waste. Industry executives note that sourcing volumes for e-platforms dealing in electronic scrap are doubling month-on-month.
Why?
In the world of Indian conglomerates, recycling has moved from being a CSR initiative to a core business strategy.
At least three major Indian conglomerates — Aditya Birla Group, Tata and Vedanta Group — have integrated recycling into their primary business model. Tata Steel’s top executive said earlier this year that “the recycling industry will surpass that of mining by 2050”.
These industry heavyweights have either specific divisions or subsidiaries dedicated to retrieving more by-products out of the scrap or leftovers from their metal-making operations.
Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Hindalco Industries has taken this a step further by spending a whopping Rs 2,000 crore on a copper recycling unit designed to process metals from electronic waste. Company executives noted in November that the project remains on track for a FY27 commissioning.
Industry experts believe that large corporations showing interest in metal recycling is the logical progression.
"The main factor driving it is the need for ESG and carbon reduction,” Mayur Karmarkar, managing director, International Copper Association India, told The Core.
With business interest rising, money is pouring into the sector. But how long will this last?
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Rs 4,960 crore
That’s the proposal approved by the board of car market leader Maruti Suzuki to acquire land and expand its manufacturing capacity in Gujarat, underscoring the carmaker’s push to scale up production for domestic and export markets.
Setup: The proposed expansion is at the Khoraj Industrial Estate, where capacity could rise by up to 1 million units annually, the company said in a regulatory filing. The expansion will be funded through a mix of internal accruals and external borrowings.
Context: Maruti Suzuki’s existing facilities across Haryana and Gujarat have a combined capacity of about 2.6 million units a year and are fully utilised. In 2024, parent Suzuki Motor Corp announced a Rs 35,000 crore investment for a second Gujarat plant with an annual capacity of 1 million units.
Trade Deal Galore
India is likely closing in on a string of major trade agreements as negotiations intensify on multiple fronts. US Ambassador Sergio Gor said India and the United States are actively engaging on a long-delayed bilateral trade deal, with the next round of talks set for Tuesday. The talks follow tariff disputes and disagreements over market access and have yet to produce a framework deal.
Forecast: Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz floated the possibility that the European Union and India could finalise a free trade agreement by the end of January, following intensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Scoop: Both sets of talks suggest momentum, but careful diplomacy and contentious issues mean that firm deals are not yet in hand.
Inflation Ticks Up
India’s retail inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to 1.33% in December 2025 from 0.71% in November, according to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Impact: The uptick was driven by higher prices of personal care products, meat and fish, eggs, spices, sugar and confectionery. Personal care prices surged 28.07%, while meat and fish rose 5.12% and eggs 4.76%. "The CPI inflation rise is marginally lower than ICRA's estimate of 1.4% for the month. The uptick was driven by narrower deflation in the food and beverages segment as well as hardening inflation in the miscellaneous items," said Aditi Nayar, chief economist and head, research & outreach, ICRA.
By The Numbers: However, vegetables and pulses remained in deflation, declining by 18% and 15% respectively, keeping food inflation negative at -2.71%. Rural inflation rose to 0.76 per cent and urban inflation to 2.03%. The RBI has cut its FY26 inflation forecast to 2%.
India’s EV Reckoning
India’s draft Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) III roadmap offers near-term flexibility but signals a decisive shift toward electrification, with fleet-average CO2 limits tightening to 71 g/km by FY2032, according to a Kotak Institutional Equities report.
The Lead: The revised FY2028 target of 88 g/km can be met through cleaner ICEs and hybrids, but the 2032 threshold sharply narrows that route, effectively requiring a much higher electrified vehicle mix.
Overview: The report says Tata Motors is best positioned to meet the norms, backed by a strong BEV portfolio, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra. Maruti Suzuki faces tougher obligations beyond FY2028 due to its small-car-heavy mix, while Hyundai appears most exposed given low EV penetration and a delayed mass-market pipeline.
IndiGo Targets Pilot Hiring
India’s largest airline, IndiGo, is stepping up pilot recruitment as it adjusts operations to comply with the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gave the carrier time until February 10 to stabilise its crew rosters. The carrier is offering enhanced joining incentives, including sizeable sign-on bonuses, guaranteed flying hours, to Captains and First Officers who can join by early February, confirmed and an IndiGo pilot on condition of anonymity.
Flashpoint: "They (the airline) are contemplating offering a joining bonus between 50 lac to 1 crore based on how senior or how quickly a pilot is available. The joining bonus is not yet offered, just being contemplated, but the airline hasn't succeeded yet," the pilot said. IndiGo plans to recruit at least 300 pilots to support its current schedule and accommodate aircraft returning to service after Pratt & Whitney engine repairs.
How We Got Here: The move follows widespread flight cancellations in December, when the airline faced challenges in crew rostering under the revised fatigue rules. The DGCA has since sought an explanation from the airline’s management regarding the operational disruptions.
AI Deepfakes Are Coming For Your Money
There’s a deepfake video of Sundararaman Ramamurthy, Managing Director and CEO of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), doing the rounds. In it, he appears to offer stock tips for 2026 and urges viewers to join a WhatsApp channel to make “Rs 8 million by 2027.”
Catch Up Quick: The exchange has clarified that the video is doctored and that no BSE official can offer stock tips or investment advice in any capacity.
Flashpoint: This isn’t an isolated incident. Last week, X took down over 600 user accounts after Indian authorities flagged how users were misusing Grok, its AI tool, to generate obscene images. As AI tools scale faster than enforcement, fraudsters now test their scams in public and refine them in real time.
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Markets Rise But On The Basis Of Signals That Seem Early
On Episode 772 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to C S Vigneshwar, President at the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). We also feature an excerpt from our upcoming India Energy Week interview featuring Atanu Mukherjee, President and CEO at Dastur Energy.
Markets rise but on the basis of signals that seem early
Why global energy markets surprised in 2025
Will strong auto sales from last month sustain into 2026?
Can business leaders take investment decisions purely on the basis of political promise?
Fresh uncertainty on Wall Street as the Trump administration launches pressure tactics on the US Federal Reserve Chair
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