India Tyre Imports: New HSN Codes, Emission Monitoring and a GST Cut
India Tyre Recycling Reforms
India’s policy think tank NITI Aayog has proposed a package of reforms for the country’s end-of-life tyre sector, including separate HSN classification codes for waste tyres and crumb rubber, mandatory emissions monitoring at pyrolysis plants and a sharp cut in GST on recycled tyre products.
The measures were debated at the Paryavaran NITI Manthan conference in New Delhi on 4 May 2026, organised with the Material Recycling Association of India and attended by policymakers, regulators and industry.
The Scale of the Problem
Figures presented at the conference put India’s tyre recycling volume at roughly 3 million tonnes during the 2024-25 fiscal year, split between about 1.6 million tonnes generated domestically and 1.4 million tonnes imported. Pyrolysis alone accounted for approximately 2.68 million tonnes of that throughput.
India produces around 4.2 million tonnes of tyres a year, and delegates said weak traceability, inconsistent product standards and thin demand for recycled materials keep the sector locked into low-value outputs despite that volume.
Separate HSN Codes for Waste Tyres and Crumb Rubber
Waste tyres and crumb rubber currently share a single HSN classification, which makes it difficult for regulators to follow material flows or tell whether end-of-life tyres are entering authorised recyclers or informal processing. NITI Aayog proposed distinct six-digit codes for each to close that blind spot.
Formalisation sits alongside it. Suggested measures include bringing smaller recyclers into business registration systems, extending financial support, and considering limited waivers for past environmental liabilities to ease the transition into compliance.
Mandatory Emission Monitoring for Pyrolysis Units
Because pyrolysis handles the majority of India’s recycling volume, environmental oversight of those plants was flagged as a priority. NITI Aayog proposed mandatory continuous emissions monitoring systems at pyrolysis facilities to tighten compliance and make operating performance transparent.
The government is also weighing permission to import waste tyres for pyrolysis, conditional on the facility being able to upgrade carbon char into recovered carbon black, and would allow tyre pyrolysis oil from imported feedstock to be used by refineries and approved industrial users.
Standards and the GST Cut
A central recommendation is national quality standards for tyre pyrolysis oil and recovered carbon black. Stakeholders said the absence of recognised benchmarks has suppressed industrial buyer confidence, and paired the standards with procurement guidelines and incentives steering recycled materials into higher-value applications.
On tax, industry pressed for GST on recycled tyre products to fall from 18% to 5% to improve competitiveness against virgin materials. Participants also flagged the imbalance created because TPO attracts GST while petroleum products largely do not, suggesting aligned treatment or GST credits for refiners and industrial users blending TPO.
Build Pyrolysis Plant that Can Meet the New Standards
Continuous emissions monitoring, char upgraded to specification rCB, and oil clean enough for refinery intake are not retrofits — they are design decisions. Operators positioned for India’s proposed standards will be the ones whose plants were engineered for them from the start.
Klean Industries delivers tyre pyrolysis and recovered carbon black facilities with KBR as performance-guaranteed, 100% bankable turnkey projects, so yields, product quality and emissions performance are contracted obligations rather than vendor claims. Our references are commercial scale, including a commercial recovered carbon black plant operating in Poland.
You can license the technology and build under your own management, or have KBR deliver the entire facility turnkey. Either route starts with a feasibility study against your feedstock, your offtake and the regulatory regime you will operate under.
Contact Klean Industries » GO.
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