The fifth edition of the Shoonya Webinar Series brought together leading voices from India’s battery ecosystem to explore what it will take to make battery circularity scalable, traceable, and economically viable. With speakers from Ather Energy, the Global Battery Alliance, LOHUM, Mini Mines, and Nunam, the discussants talked about the emerging momentum, persisting gaps, and how design, data, and collaboration can further accelerate India’s leadership in this space.

Panellists stressed that as battery demand surges, India has a critical window to embed circularity into its battery value chain. Industry experts emphasised that circular design principles must be integrated from the outset, with modular battery architectures enabling reuse and repurposing throughout the product lifecycle. Darshan Virupaksha from Nunam echoed this, stating, “We must go through the principle of circularity,” which is reuse, repurpose, then recycle — to get the most value out of every battery produced.

One of the challenges discussed was the continued prevalence of informal collection and recycling. Pranati Kohli from LOHUM highlighted that “over 90% of battery collection and over 70% of recycling currently happens informally”, which causes both a safety issue and a loss of economic value. One proposed solution is to reduce the goods and services tax (GST) on battery scrap from 18% to 5%, thereby incentivising participation from the formal sector.

The session also emphasised the need for traceability as a foundation for circularity. Pramoda Gode from the Global Battery Alliance underscored that “traceability is not just about compliance. It’s about building trust.” India must invest in interoperable, globally compatible systems that can power battery passports and enable responsible sourcing and reuse. Echoing a forward-looking view, Arvind Bhardwaj from Mini Mines highlighted that “the most exciting opportunity in battery recycling remains creating a domestic supply of critical minerals.”

In terms of innovation, while solid-state and sodium-ion batteries are gaining attention, panellists noted that lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries are likely to remain prevalent in India’s EV segment in the near term, given their cost relative to their energy density and cycle count. “While solid state batteries offer higher energy density, today the technology is not at a place where it is commercially viable yet,” noted Suraj Vallamkonda from Ather Energy, adding that current cycle counts are also not competitive with LFP. Although sodium-ion batteries use more abundant raw materials, their low energy density remains a key limitation.

The session concluded with a rapid-fire round. When asked to describe the future of battery circularity in one word, panellists offered responses like agile, collaborative, possible, multi-stakeholder, and pre-competitive, highlighting a shared belief that partnerships and traceability, can help India lead in circular battery value chains.

You can revisit the discussion by accessing the full webinar recording here.