Attero to Invest Rs 100cr to Scale Up Rare Earth Recycling Capacity

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Indian e-waste recycling firm Attero announced plans on Wednesday to invest Rs 100 crore (approximately $12 million) to scale up its rare earth element (REE) recycling capacity to 30,000 tonnes annually, from the current 300 tonnes, over the next 12 to 24 months.

The expansion comes in support of the government’s National Critical Mineral Mission, launched earlier this year to boost domestic supply chains and reduce the country’s reliance on mineral imports.

Rare earth metals like neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium are essential for technologies including electric vehicles, wind turbines and consumer electronics. Global demand for REEs is expected to surge, with the market forecast to reach $10.9 billion by 2029, and REE magnets projected to exceed $30.3 billion by 2033.

“Attero is proud to be the only Indian company with proven deep-tech capabilities and patented processes to recover rare earth elements with high efficiency and purity,” said Nitin Gupta, Attero’s CEO and co-founder. “We are ready to scale our operations and support India’s self-reliance in critical minerals.”

Attero’s proprietary recycling process extracts rare earths from discarded electronics such as laptops, hard drives and earphones. The method is described as energy-efficient and more environmentally friendly than traditional mining techniques.

The company also refines black mass, a residue from spent lithium-ion batteries, into high-purity materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese — all vital for battery manufacturing and clean energy technologies.

In FY25, Attero processed over 150,000 tonnes of e-waste and 15,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries. It aims to double this capacity in the coming years, and expand its footprint in Europe and the United States.

The company holds over 46 global patents, with recent filings in India, China, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Taiwan, among others, strengthening its position in the global critical mineral recovery sector.

Founded in 2008, Attero is one of the few recyclers globally with the ability to recover over 22 types of critical and rare metals, the firm claims. It also claims to be the only firm in the world to earn carbon credits for recycling both e-waste and lithium-ion waste.

Attero recently launched a direct-to-consumer e-waste take-back platform, Selsmart, with the goal of processing 140,000 tonnes of e-waste and achieving INR 1,000 crore in annual recurring revenue over the next three years.

The firm currently operates in six countries, including India, the United States, South Korea, Australia, Poland, and Singapore.