Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal announced on Monday, 22 June 2026 that India has become the world's number one ship recycling nation for 2025, capturing a global market share of 35.4 per cent with 2.99 million gross tonnes (GT) recycled — and achieving a key Maritime India Vision 2030 target five years ahead of schedule.

Context

Sonowal's post credits the milestone to the maritime policy direction set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past 12 years, describing it as the outcome of a systematic 'transformation of India's maritime ecosystem.' The minister stated that the country is now 'moving swiftly towards a prosperous, sustainable and circular maritime economy.'

Ship recycling — the process of dismantling end-of-life vessels to recover steel and other materials — is a significant industrial activity. Alang in Gujarat is the world's largest ship-breaking yard by volume and has been the primary driver of India's dominance in this sector. The yard processes vessels from across the globe, generating raw material for the domestic steel industry and supporting hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs.

Policy Backdrop

Maritime India Vision 2030 (MIV 2030), launched in 2021 under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, set out an ambitious roadmap to modernise India's ports, waterways, and maritime services. One of its headline targets was to consolidate India's position as the global leader in ship recycling — a goal the ministry now says has been met in 2025, five years before the original deadline.

India ratified the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, which came into force globally in June 2025. Compliance with this convention raised safety and environmental standards at yards like Alang, making Indian facilities more attractive to international shipowners who need certified, regulation-compliant recycling destinations. The Ship Recycling Regulation framework has progressively pushed European-flagged vessels toward compliant yards, benefiting India's certified facilities.

The government has also invested in infrastructure upgrades at major recycling clusters, worker safety improvements, and digital monitoring systems to ensure environmental compliance — all of which have contributed to raising India's share of the global recycling market from a lower base a decade ago to the current 35.4 per cent.

Stakeholders and Impact

The Alang-Sosiya ship recycling cluster in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, directly employs an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 workers and supports a wider ecosystem of steel traders, logistics providers, and component re-sellers. Achieving the number-one global rank is expected to attract more international vessel owners to route their end-of-life ships to Indian yards, sustaining employment and raw-material supply for domestic steel re-rollers.

For the broader maritime sector, the milestone signals that India's regulatory and infrastructure investments are yielding measurable results. Competing recycling nations — including Bangladesh and Turkey — have faced stricter scrutiny over environmental and labour standards, which has incrementally shifted global volume toward India's increasingly compliant yards.

What's Next

With the Maritime India Vision 2030 recycling target already met, the ministry is expected to revise its benchmarks upward and focus on the next phase: deepening value recovery from recycled vessels, expanding certified yard capacity, and positioning India as a hub for green ship recycling under emerging global decarbonisation frameworks. The government's stated goal of a 'circular maritime economy' suggests future policy will emphasise material traceability, zero-discharge standards, and integration with the domestic green-steel supply chain.

The achievement also lends momentum to India's broader pitch for a larger role in global maritime governance, including its engagement with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) on shipping's decarbonisation agenda.