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In 2025, India became the world's leading ship-recycling nation with 35.4% of global volume; the Alang-Sosiya Yard (Gujarat, established 1982-83) handles 98% of India's ship recycling, with 128 operational plots and 4.5 million LDT/year capacity — over 8,900 ships (71+ million LDT) recycled since inception.
The yard employs about 15,000 directly and supports 1.5 lakh+ people indirectly; a 35-bed Level III Trauma Centre run by the Indian Red Cross Society has treated 4.79 lakh+ patients as of June 2026.
India has aligned domestic law with the Hong Kong Convention (entered into force June 2025) via the Recycling of Ships Act 2019, Rules 2021 and Regulations 2026; 115 Alang plots have achieved HKC compliance so far.
A Shipbreaking Credit Note Scheme gives ship owners a credit note worth 40% of scrap value (usable toward up to 5% of a new Indian-built ship's contract value); Gujarat plans to expand Alang's capacity to 9 million LDT/year.
Align India's ship recycling with the Hong Kong Convention
Key: Mandates approved Ship Recycling Facility Management Plans and Ship Recycling Plans; the Gujarat Maritime Board empanels recognised organisations for inspection/certification
Incentivise HKC-compliant recycling while boosting domestic shipbuilding
Key: Credit note equal to 40% of scrap value when recycled at an HKC-compliant Indian yard; usable toward up to 5% of a new Indian-built ship's contract value
Strengthen the ship-recycling ecosystem
Key: ₹53.5 crore in financial assistance released to Indian ship recycling yards
Regulates the Alang-Sosiya yard; empanels inspection bodies, maintains worker welfare infrastructure and environmental safeguards (TSDF)
Operates the multispeciality hospital / Level III Trauma Centre at Alang
IMO convention that entered into force 26 June 2025; sets the global standard that India's Recycling of Ships Act 2019 aligns with
LDT measures a ship's own weight (steel, machinery, equipment) excluding cargo, fuel and crew — the standard unit for ship-recycling capacity and volume, since scrap value and recycling effort scale with the ship's structural weight rather than its carrying capacity
Simple Analogy: LDT is like weighing a car by its empty kerb weight rather than by how much luggage it can carry — what matters for recycling is the material actually built into the vehicle itself
GS Paper 3 > Environment > Circular Economy; GS Paper 3 > Economy > Maritime Sector
Occasional — a milestone likely to recur as HKC compliance expands
IMO's international treaty for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling, in force since 26 June 2025
Light Displacement Tonnage — a ship's own structural weight, the standard unit for ship-recycling capacity