The metal scrap industry in India is largely unorganised but its recycling market is an arena filled with opportunities as it is valued at approximately USD$ 11 billion, as of 2023. According to estimates made by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the country generates around 25 million tons of metal scrap on an annual basis but a very small percentage of that gets recycled.
With an aim to tap into this space of material scrap recycling, an Indian clean-tech company has come up with an innovative digital AI-powered platform – MetalMandi that has been designed to make the metal scrap industry more organized and efficient. The platform will offer a fair collection experience for scrap dealers and businesses in the country with an aim to facilitate daily transactions of 1,000 tonnes of scrap by May 2025.
Mohammed Gulrez, a metal scrap dealer from Delhi’s Selampur who is one of the potential users of this new app says, “a platform like this helps us to get open access to the market and know about the real time prices of the metals which we would previously get to know after one day.” He further says that such a mechanism prevents any kind of false trade practices that would often lead them to getting cheated in the market. “We are currently getting trained to use the platform more effectively for our business,” Gulrez adds.
Through his new platform, the company, which specializes in e-waste and lithium-ion battery recycling will provide real time updates on market prices, ensure a secured payment mechanism with zero transaction fees and eliminate intermediaries to bring forth a seamless experience for the sellers as well as buyers. By April 2025, Attero plans to onboard 1.5 lakh users on the MetalMandi app, ranging from scale scrap dealers to large businesses.
How will the App Help Scrap Dealers?
The online application will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to predict the market prices of scrap across various categories. The accurate prices will be ensured after taking a look at several factors like type of scrap, composition as well as supply-demand dynamics. Additionally, the platform will also use AI to identify scrap from the images uploaded by users, which will further streamline the listing process and reduce errors.
Scrap dealers will be able to list a wide range of scrap categories such as metal scrap, electronic waste, as well as home appliances on the app. As a part of the onboarding process, the dealers and businesses need to register using their mobile number and then they can then list their scrap by providing details like type, quantity, and photos. Following that, the scraps will be analysed as per market value and will be inspected and picked up while ensuring a quick payment process.
However, such tech-driven apps often face challenges in uptake given the challenges associated with the ease of access to technology. Talking about the same, Nitin Gupta, CEO and Co-founder of Attero says, “It's a very user-friendly app. We have made this while taking into account several probable users of the app, thereby taking in vast market information.” These users are the 15,000 metal scrap traders across the country that the company has been working with for many years.
