India wants to tackle its mounting e-waste problem. Global electronics companies say the cost is too high.
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Daikin, Hitachi and Samsung are among manufacturers alarmed by new Indian government rules that require them to pay significantly more to recycle air conditioners, refrigerators, TVs and other appliances, court papers and lobbying letters show.
The electronics giants are urging environment officials to abandon the approach, with four companies suing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration in New Delhi over the measures they say will heighten compliance woes and unsettle businesses.
The previously unreported stand-off marks the latest chapter in foreign companies’ battles with India over what some perceive as protectionist policies and shifting regulatory goalposts. India is the third-biggest e-waste generator behind China and the US, but government data shows only 43 per cent of the country’s e-waste last year was recycled and at least 80 per cent of the sector comprises informal scrap dealers, whose methods can pose environmental and health risks.
Concerned about poor waste-processing practices, New Delhi in September set a floor price that electronics makers must pay recyclers, with the aim of formalising the sector and encouraging investment in e-waste management.
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A Reuters review of hundreds of pages of non-public court papers and letters to the government by an industry group representing Samsung and LG reveals the impasse over the new rates, which the industry says have roughly tripled manufacturers’ recycling costs.
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