Commenting on the implementation of the vehicle scrapping policy aimed at recycling older two and four wheelers, Gadkari said, “We have started scrapping policy. There are already a lot of imports of aluminium and copper. Now we don’t need to import. The circulation of economy is important.”
He added that aluminium, copper, steel, rubber, and plastic can be recycled to reduce the cost of automobile components by 20-25%.
It is estimated that India imports metals worth roughly $ 34.7 billion annually. China, South Korea, Japan, United Arab Emirates, and United States are the top five sources of metals imports into India.
During his speech, Gadkari reiterated that the logistic cost in India is around 14-16% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). “By new roads and changes in fuel, our target is to reduce it to 9%. This will increase our exports and is an opportunity for India,” he said.
Reflecting on the changing global scenario, Gadkari said that businesses now prefer India for investments as compared with other countries.
Gadkari said he did not want to comment on the report by Tarun Kapoor, advisor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has proposed banning diesel vehicles across large cities in the country. But he noted that there is a need to increase localisation of fuel required to run vehicles in India.
