India has claimed the top position in global ship recycling in 2025, capturing a 35.4 per cent share of the worldwide market — up from 30.1 per cent the previous year — according to the latest report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The milestone, announced by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), places India ahead of all other nations in one of the maritime industry's most strategically significant segments.

Scale of the Surge

Ship recycling volumes in India climbed to 2.99 million gross tons (GT) in 2025, a jump of nearly 60 per cent from 1.86 million GT recorded in 2024. According to the ministry's official statement, this growth rate is among the fastest logged by any country in the sector over a comparable period.

Crucially, the achievement means India has fulfilled a core target under the Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 — to become the world's leading ship recycling nation — well ahead of the original deadline.

What the Government Said

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal attributed the milestone to a combination of sustained policy reform, industry effort, and adherence to international environmental and safety standards. 'India's emergence as the world's top ship recycling nation reflects the success of sustained policy reforms, industry efforts and adherence to international environmental and safety standards,' Sonowal said.

The ministry credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership for driving the maritime policy reforms and ease-of-doing-business initiatives that underpinned the growth.

Key Policy Levers Behind the Rise

Several targeted interventions helped propel India to the top. The government enacted the Recycling of Ships Act, 2019, aligning India's ship recycling ecosystem with the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC). Financial assistance of ₹53.5 crore was extended to support yard modernisation, enabling 115 facilities to achieve HKC compliance.

MoPSW also launched the Ship-breaking Credit Note Scheme, under which ship owners receive a credit note equivalent to 40 per cent of the scrap value of a recycled vessel — a direct incentive to route ships to Indian yards. The government is additionally pursuing the inclusion of Indian ship recycling facilities in the European Union's approved list of recycling yards, a move that would unlock a significant new pipeline of European-flagged vessels.

Global Outlook and India's Opportunity

The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) projects that more than 16,000 vessels will be recycled globally over the next decade as the global fleet ages. At its current market share of 35.4 per cent, India is positioned to recycle approximately 500 to 600 vessels annually, according to the ministry. This trajectory offers significant downstream benefits — steel scrap from recycled ships feeds domestic manufacturing, and the sector supports tens of thousands of jobs concentrated around Alang in Gujarat, the world's largest ship recycling yard complex.

Notably, this is the first time India has formally claimed the global number-one position under a UNCTAD-tracked metric, marking a structural shift from a sector long associated with safety and environmental concerns to one increasingly recognised for compliance and scale. How India manages the next phase of capacity expansion — particularly on worker safety and green recycling standards — will determine whether the lead can be sustained.