India ranked first globally in ship recycling in 2025 with a 35.4% market share, achieving Maritime India Vision 2030's target five years ahead of schedule — driven by a comprehensive statutory framework and infrastructure upgrades at Alang-Sosiya.

• Pre-2013: Ship breaking at Alang operated primarily under the Hazardous Wastes (Management) Rules, 1989, and the Environment Protection Act, 1986 — a fragmented framework with no maritime-specific standards.
• 2013 — Basel Convention Compliance: The Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes classified ship-breaking waste as hazardous, imposing obligations on exporting countries and reinforcing the need for domestic reform.
• 2019 — Ship Recycling Act: Enacted to give domestic effect to the Hong Kong Convention. Designated the Directorate General of Shipping as the National Authority. Established mandatory authorisation, certification, and inspection.
• 2021 — Ship Recycling Rules: Operationalised the Act with procedural standards: facility authorisation, hazardous material plans, worker safety, training, and reporting obligations.
• 2025 — HKC Entry into Force: The Convention became binding internationally on 26 June 2025. India's framework was already aligned.
• 2026 — Ship Recycling Regulations: Further detailed operational, safety, and environmental standards for uniform compliance monitoring.

Figure 1 — India's Ship Recycling Market Share & Volume Growth (2024–2025)

India's global ship recycling share rose from 30.1% in 2024 to 35.4% in 2025, with volume increasing ~60% to 2.99 million GT. Source: UNCTAD / Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways.

• Located in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat — recognised as the world's largest ship recycling hub, accounting for approximately 98% of India's recycling activity.
• Annual recycling capacity: ~6 million Gross Tonnes (GT); produces ~3.50 million metric tonnes (MMT) of steel per annum without exploiting virgin natural resources.
• The Safety Training and Labour Welfare Institute at Alang has cumulatively trained over 1.5 lakh workers in occupational safety, hazardous material handling, and emergency response.
• India aims to nearly double capacity to ~9 million Light Displacement Tons (LDT) through a comprehensive master plan for the Alang yard.
• Other facilities: Amar Iron Udyog (Kolkata) and Steel Industrials Kerala Limited — SILK (Kerala).
• 35 yards at Alang have applied for EU green-listing; two — Shree Ram Vessel Scrap and Y.S. Investments — have been included in the draft 16th European List of Ship Recycling Facilities.

• Circular Economy: Recovered steel reduces dependence on imported ore and requires substantially less energy than primary steel production — directly relevant to India's decarbonisation and Atmanirbhar Bharat objectives.
• Resource Security: Ferrous scrap from ship recycling supplies domestic steel re-rolling mills, supporting manufacturing without depleting natural resources.
• Employment: The sector supports large-scale employment in dismantling, processing, and a wide network of ancillary industries including transport and waste management.
• Environmental Governance: Regulated recycling prevents marine pollution and ensures safe handling of hazardous materials — asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tributyltin (TBT), and heavy metals — under statutory supervision.

• Despite legislative progress, implementation at the yard level has been uneven. Labour welfare outcomes — injury rates, dust exposure, and accident reporting — still warrant closer monitoring by the Directorate General of Shipping.
• EU green-listing, while aspirational, is voluntary and covers only a fraction of Alang's 150+ yards. The bulk of recycling continues without EU-standard oversight.
• The Ship-breaking Credit Note Scheme links recycling incentives to new shipbuilding — a positive structural alignment — but its uptake has not yet been publicly assessed.
• UNCTAD data measures volume (GT), not environmental compliance quality. India's top rank reflects scale; it must now ensure it also reflects standards.

Parliament passed the MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in August, updating the 2006 Act to reflect the sector's expanded scale — 9.16 crore registered enterprises, 40 crore employees, and a 31.1% share of GDP — and its growing integration with digital platforms.

• MSMED Act, 2006: Replaced the earlier Industries (Development and Regulation) Act provisions for small-scale industries. Defined Micro, Small, and Medium enterprises by investment in plant and machinery.
• 2020 — Revised MSME Classification: Investment and turnover dual-criteria introduced (Atmanirbhar Bharat package). New thresholds: Micro (₹1 cr / ₹5 cr turnover), Small (₹10 cr / ₹50 cr), Medium (₹50 cr / ₹250 cr).
• 2021 — Udyam Assist Platform: Extended formal recognition to informal micro enterprises without GST/IT registration — using authorised partner verification.
• 2025 — ODR Portal Launch: Low-cost, end-to-end digital dispute resolution for delayed payment claims, including small-value claims.
• 2026 Amendment Bill: Consolidates these changes into the parent Act; revises MSEFC structure, updates classification norms, strengthens TReDS mandate, decriminalises certain offences, and formalises mediation/arbitration provisions.

Figure 2 — Key Reform Areas under the MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026

Seven reform pillars of the 2026 Amendment: updated classification and registration, TReDS integration, revised MSEFC framework, strengthened dispute resolution, recovery of dues, decriminalisation of offences, and mediation/arbitration provisions. Source: Ministry of MSME.

• Updated MSME Classification and Registration: Statutory alignment with the 2020 dual-criteria (investment + turnover); Udyam portal given explicit legislative basis; Udyam Assist Platform formalised for informal enterprises.
• TReDS Integration: Trade Receivables Discounting System — the RBI-regulated electronic platform for invoice financing — gets stronger statutory footing. Invoice discounting rose from ₹40,000 crore (2022-23) to ₹3.47 lakh crore (2025-26).
• Revised MSEFC Framework: Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Councils restructured for greater consistency and speed in adjudicating delayed-payment disputes.
• Strengthened Dispute Resolution: The Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Portal — launched June 2025 — given statutory recognition; covers small-value claims end-to-end digitally.
• Decriminalisation of Offences: Converts several compliance-related criminal penalties into civil penalties — reducing compliance risk for small enterprises and aligning with the broader ease-of-doing-business agenda.
• Mediation and Arbitration Provisions: Pre-litigation mediation introduced as a default pathway for MSME disputes — expected to reduce case burden on MSEFCs.
• Strengthened Recovery of Dues: Enhanced mechanisms to ensure timely payment from larger buyers — a longstanding structural vulnerability for Micro and Small enterprises.

• The delayed-payment problem has existed since 2006 — the original Act already mandated 45-day payment cycles for MSEs. The persistence of the problem despite MSEFCs and TReDS suggests enforcement gaps rather than legal lacunae; the amendment's effectiveness will depend on implementation quality.
• Decriminalisation of offences reduces deterrence for deliberate non-compliance — a calibration risk if penalty amounts under the civil regime are not meaningfully scaled.
• The 9.16 crore figure on the Udyam portal includes many dormant or one-person micro enterprises; the quality of the registration data and the extent to which it represents economically active firms warrants scrutiny.
• Coverage of informal enterprises through the Udyam Assist Platform is a positive step, but authenticating firms without GST/IT records via "authorised partners" creates verification risks and potential for inclusion of ineligible entities.