Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India launch auto scrapping unit

Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India, a joint venture between India's Maruti Suzuki and Japan's Toyota Tsusho group, has launched an end-of-life vehicle scrapping and recycling unit in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

The 10,993m² facility has the capacity to scrap and recycle over 24,000 end-of-life vehicles annually, Maruti said yesterday.

India launched the national vehicle scrapping policy in August this year aimed at phasing out unfit and polluting vehicles, while increasing domestic scrap metal processing capacity and reducing dependency on scrap imports.

"The policy will help in increasing automobile sales, provide employment, reduce import cost, generate incremental GST revenue and help to solve the global shortage of semi conductor chip," India's minister of road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari said at the inauguration yesterday, adding that three to four scrapping centres should be set up in every district.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is promoting the set up of registered vehicle scrapping facilities to increase material recovery and enable environmentally-friendly processes. The material recovery percentage from scrapped vehicles in India is about 70-75pc, while global benchmarks are in the range of 85-95pc, it said.

India's Tata Motors plans to set up a 36,000 vehicle/yr scrapping facility in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, it said earlier this year.

By Sumita Layek