Inside India’s Largest Informal Vehicle Scrap Hub That Policy Couldn’t Displace

By Shubhangi Bhatia

What?

Tucked inside West Delhi’s Mayapuri Industrial Area is a market that refuses to die. For nearly 50 years, this sprawling scrap hub has been the final stop for India’s end-of-life vehicles—long before the government tried to formalise the process.

The Core visited this scrap market. Today, even with a national vehicle scrapping policy in place and about 129 authorised facilities operational, Mayapuri continues to be busier than ever.

Mangled accident vehicles arrive daily from regions across north India, stripped and sorted in hours, their parts flowing into a thriving second-hand ecosystem. “Accidental cars that come here are sold somewhere between Rs 40,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh, depending on their life cycle, model, and condition. It takes less than an hour to dismantle it,” an insider told The Core.

Why?

The persistence of Mayapuri exposes a fundamental gap between policy ambition and economic reality. India’s scrappage framework promises incentives but these benefits rarely match the resale value that informal traders extract from usable parts.

Authorised facilities are required to shred vehicles entirely, eliminating the lucrative spare-parts market that sustains hubs like Mayapuri. Add to this limited infrastructure, procedural complexity, and delayed payments, and the formal ecosystem struggles to compete.

Typically, the resale value of an ageing medium or heavy commercial vehicle is in “multiples of realisable raw material scrap value, which weakens the financial incentive for voluntary scrappage and encourages continued circulation of older vehicles,” Hemal Thakkar, director at Crisil Intelligence, told The Core.

Why It Matters?

This gap has consequences far beyond one scrapyard. India has millions of ageing, polluting vehicles that need to be phased out to meet emissions and climate goals. But as long as informal markets remain more attractive, the shift toward cleaner, safer mobility could slow.

Ashim Sharma, senior partner at Nomura Research Institute, said that the informal sector has an incredibly resilient and wide-reaching sourcing network that the formal sector currently lacks.

“While it is easier said than done, we should consider cooperation instead of policing. Instead of displacement, we should focus on professionalising the network through safety certifications, insurance and financial incentives for the people working there. This would turn a hazardous grey market into a legitimate, high-efficiency feedstock sourcing engine for the circular economy,” he told The Core.

The question now is no longer whether India can formalise scrappage, but whether it can do so without dismantling the very ecosystem that makes recycling economically viable. Because inside Mayapuri’s crowded lanes lies a bigger story — not just about scrap, but about how policy collides with livelihood, economics, and the realities of India’s informal economy.

Rs 20,000 crore

That’s how much Bharti Airtel plans to invest over the next few years to expand digital lending through its NBFC arm, Airtel Money Ltd., after receiving a licence from the Reserve Bank of India on February 13. Airtel will contribute 70% of the capital, while promoter Bharti Enterprises will provide the rest.

Overview: The telecom operator said its lending service platform has already disbursed over Rs 9,000 crore in the past two years, supported by its digital infrastructure, data capabilities and underwriting systems that have helped keep delinquencies under control.

Setting: Airtel said the NBFC will integrate with its lending platform to deepen financial services and tap India’s underpenetrated credit market, where the credit-to-GDP ratio stands at 53%, leaving room for growth.

The Pioneer presents India Finance & Innovation Forum 2026 convenes policymakers, regulators, financial institutions and industry leaders to examine India’s evolving financial architecture. Over three days, senior decision-makers will explore fiscal and monetary priorities, capital markets, digital finance and innovation-led growth through focused dialogue, networking and collaborative sessions on what’s changing, what works and what comes next.

Fraud Cloud Over IDFC

Shares of IDFC First Bank plummeted as much as 20% on Monday after the lender disclosed a suspected fraud of Rs 590 crore involving government-linked accounts at a Chandigarh branch. The discrepancy was discovered when entities from the state of Haryana attempted to close accounts and found that actual balances did not match internal records.

Setup: While the bank has suspended four employees and appointed KPMG for a forensic audit, the incident has already triggered a sharp market reaction, with analysts from UBS and Morgan Stanley estimating a potential hit of up to 22% on the bank's fiscal 2026 profit.

Flashpoint: Despite these concerns, Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said it is watching the developments, but there is “no systemic issue with the bank.”

Airfare Caps Urged

The IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) has urged the Centre to retain domestic airfare caps, saying they are crucial for tourism growth and regional connectivity. In a representation to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Tourism, the association said aggressive dynamic pricing has made fares volatile and often unaffordable, disrupting leisure, family and business travel, BusinessLine reported.

Flashpoint: Affordable and predictable pricing, it noted, is essential to unlock India’s domestic tourism potential and connect Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in line with the UDAN vision. IAAI said the temporary Rs 7,500–Rs 18,000 cap helped curb surge pricing and stabilise the market.

What's Next? With over 5.3 lakh passengers travelling daily across 164 airports and traffic projected to touch 40 crore by 2029, the association stressed that transparent fares are key to inclusive aviation growth.

The Great Indian Succession

India is entering a pivotal generational shift as family-owned businesses confront succession realities. Around 70% of India’s 334 billionaires are expected to transfer nearly $1.5 trillion in wealth, equivalent to over one-third of GDP, yet succession readiness remains uneven. Nearly 36% of family businesses lack clear transition plans, while many founders remain reluctant to step aside and heirs increasingly pursue independent careers, according to Kotak Insights.

The Lead: This transition coincides with abundant global capital, with private equity firms holding over $2 trillion in dry powder and Indian family offices expanding rapidly to manage diversified investments. The convergence is reshaping ownership, governance and dealmaking, particularly among mid-sized promoter-led firms.

Future: Even as many family businesses continue to grow strongly and expand internationally, leadership transitions could trigger professionalisation, stake sales or consolidation — turning what once felt like private family deliberations into a broader economic inflection point.

India Tightens Drug Oversight

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSO) inspected nearly 90% of India’s cough syrup manufacturers and found widespread compliance lapses, Drugs Controller General Rajeev Raghuvanshi said at the 11th Global Pharmaceutical Quality Summit in Mumbai.

How We Got Here: The crackdown followed the discovery of toxic diethylene glycol in Coldrif, a cough syrup made by Sresan Pharmaceutical. Authorities linked the contamination to 24 child deaths in India last year and more than 140 deaths across Africa and Central Asia since 2022, triggering global scrutiny of India’s pharmaceutical exports.

The Turning Point: Raghuvanshi said regulators have already inspected over 1,250 additional drug manufacturing units to assess risk. The agency will now create 1,500 new posts, deploy artificial intelligence in regulatory reviews and streamline export clearances as it moves to align standards more closely with the US Food and Drug Administration and rebuild trust in India’s drug industry.

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Trade Chaos Sweeps The World But India Is Shielded For Now

On Episode 806 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Jairaj Purandare, Founder Chairman of JMP Advisors.

• Trade chaos sweeps the world but India is shielded for now

• More MNCs capitalise on India valuation premiums with listings, mostly with secondary sales leading to capital repatriation

• Did tax and other savings from last year go into speculation?

• A new French-India tax treaty could lead to some disappointments among large investors