India on Wednesday announced that three of its ship recycling centres had cleared all the requirements to be able to apply for inclusion under the European Union Ship Recycling Regulation (EUSRR) framework.
These three are part of a group of 30 Indian ship recycling yards that had applied to be audited and evaluated for compliance with the EUSRR.
Three of these yards are also currently undergoing the evaluation process, Union Minister (MoPSW) Sarbananda Sonowal revealed in discussions with Jessika Roswall, the European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy.
"India has emerged as the world's leading ship recycling nation and is steadily strengthening its position as a global hub for safe, environmentally sustainable and responsible ship recycling," he said at the discussions.
Commissioner Roswell said that a final decision on including the yards in the EUSRR list would be taken after a discussion with EU member states in autumn.
This is a major boost for the country's maritime sector, and comes weeks after the latest data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed that India had emerged as the world's top ship recycling nation in 2025—five years ahead of its planned target of 2030, in line with the Maritime India Vision 2030.
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The UNCTAD data also showed that India's share in global ship recycling grew from 30.1 per cent in 2024 to 35.4 per cent in 2025—a jump from 1.86 million gross tonnes (GT) to 2.99 million GT over the same period.
Sonowal pointed out that Indian ship recycling facilities are supported by robust environmental infrastructure and worker welfare measures, including effluent treatment plants, scientific waste management systems, multi-speciality healthcare facilities supported by the Red Cross Society, and dedicated housing for workers.
He also added that routine—and unannounced inspections—are regularly conducted to ensure environmental and labour compliance.
He reiterated that these measures were part of the MoPSW's aim to recycle about 16,000 ships over the next decade under its comprehensive maritime package of Rs 69,725 crore for shipbuilding and ship recycling, approved by the Centre in September 2025.
Lauding the progress achieved thus far, Commissioner Roswall proposed establishing a Joint Working Group (JWG) comprising representatives from various ministries to coordinate and support the next phase of India-EU ship recycling collaboration.
She also also expressed an interest in visiting Indian ship recycling facilities after the evaluation process is completed.
