The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the apex body representing the country’s leading automobile manufacturers, hosted the 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Circularity (ICSC) at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on the sidelines of Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025. Theme ‘Nature Positive Recycling – Systemic Transformation to Automotive Circular Economy in India’, the conference emphasised the need for systemic transformation through regulatory frameworks, technological advancements and collaborative efforts across stakeholders, underscoring India’s potential to lead global efforts in sustainable automotive practices.

Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India, who was the Chief Guest during the inaugural session of the conference, launched the SIAM Strategy Paper ‘Towards Circular Future in the Indian Automobile Industry: Integrating EPR Regime in Waste Stream Regulations’ and said, "As the automotive industry observes a notable growth, it is imperative to reflect on our environmental obligations. Nature, with its innate capacity for regeneration, serves as an exemplar for our operational strategies. Our focus extends beyond mere waste management to stimulating economic development, diminishing emissions and cultivating societal advancements through the promotion of green jobs. Initiatives such as the Vehicle Scrappage Policy 2021 and the endorsement of electric vehicles manifest our commitment to sustainable practices. As we navigate towards a circular economy, our actions must be guided by a steadfast dedication to environmental integrity and ecological stewardship. SIAM has done an admirable job of initiating discussions on circularity which showcases its commitment to the growth of the automotive sector and promoting India’s green goals."

Session One, themed ‘Impact of EPR on ELV Recycling and Compliance: New Paradigm of Material Circulatory’, was graced by Guests of Honour Arvind Kumar Nautiyal, Joint Secretary, Government of India and Member Secretary, CAQM, and Mahmood Ahmed, Additional Secretary, MoRTH. The session explored policy interventions, international practices and innovations required for scaling up ELV recycling. The session also saw the launch of an approach paper on ‘Automotive Circularity in India’. The session witnessed discourses by the guests of honour as well as Sanjay Mehta, President, MRAI; Timo Unger, Chairperson – Working Group on Materials & Substances, ACEA; Vikram Kasbekar, ED and CTO, Hero MotoCorp and M S Anandkumar, Chair, SIAM Recycling & Material Group and SGM, TVS Motor Company.

Rajendra M Petkar, President and CTO, Tata Motors Ltd and Chairperson, SIAM Sustainable Mobility Group, chaired the Session Two. Themed ‘Regulatory & Policy Challenges and Innovating Solutions in the ELV Recycling Ecosystem’, the session deliberated on regulatory and policy challenges the ELV recycling ecosystem encounters along with possible solutions and the necessity of innovation. The session included presentations by R K Goyal, Director Saarloha Advanced Materials and Managing Director, Kalyani Steel, on ‘Sustainable Circularity for Green Steel Manufacturing in India’; Sonal Choithani, Vice President and Head of Market Development, Vedanta, on ‘Metals & Mobility: Building A Greener Future for Transportation’; Sosho Kitajima, Chairman, Japan Automobile Recycling Alliance (JARA), on ‘ELV management landscape in Japan’; R Mukhopadhyay, Director (R&D) J K Tyres, on ‘Sustainable Circularity – Challenges & Opportunities for Tyre & Auto Rubber Components Industry’; ALN Rao, Head of Electronics Recycling, Recykal, on ‘Innovative Tech in Automotive Circularity’; David Nolan, Executive Director, Auto Recycler Association of Australia, on ‘Automotive Circularity landscape in Australia’; Sarvesh Tomar, General Manager, BPCL, on ‘Challenges and Opportunities in Used Oil Recycling in India: Paving the path to Sustainability’ and Prabhjot Sodhi, Sr Programme Director, CEE, on ‘Policy interventions as catalysts for sustainable automotive circularity’.

Session Three, carrying the theme ‘Harnessing Cutting-edge Technologies and Business Models to Revolutionise ELV Recycling’, was addressed by Guest of Honor Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, Member, Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), and moderated by Ashim Sharma, Senior Partner, NRI Consulting & Solutions. Other eminent personalities who shared their opinion in the session included Vinod Babu, Director, CPCB; Masaru Akaishi, Managing Director, Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India Pvt Ltd; Kartick Nagpal, President, Rosmerta; Nitin Chitkara, CEO, Meta Material Circular Markets (MMCM); Prabhakar Bhangare, CEO, Global PCCS and Anant Bhargava, IFP Petro.

Session Four revolved around the theme ‘Challenges and Way forward for Closing the Loop on Automotive Material and Components’. The session was graced by Guest of Honour Ved Prakash Mishra, Joint Secretary – HSM, MoEFCC, Government of India, and chaired by Kiran Sarkar, Co-Chairperson, SIAM Recycling and Material Groups and Head – Sustainability, Mahindra & Mahindra. Apart from a thematic presentation by Likith Koundinya, Consulting Specialist, S&P Global, the session also saw panel discussions by Anand Kumar, Director, CPCB; Sumit Agrawal, Director, BigMint Technologies Pvt Ltd (SteelMint); Dr Rashi Gupta, Founder & MD, Vision Mechatronics and V Manjunath, Regional Standards Manager – South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, at UL Standards & Engagement Inc., (ULSE).

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The automotive industry world over faces significant sustainability challenges, including high carbon and other particulate emissions, depleting resources, supply chain complexities and slower pace of transition to cleaner and greener mobility. Indian automotive industry over and above has additional challenges, where gaps in recycling infrastructure, hazardous waste disposal and end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) management further obstructs sustainability in the sector. The balance between cost and greener technologies is much trickier to handle.

To bring national attention to this burning topic, a Sustainable Mobility Conclave 2025, is planned at NATRAX, Indore, which isn’t just another conference but a movement to reimagine, redesign and reinvent how Indian automotive carve out its sustainable future path.

The mission: A circular, sustainable and low-emission future

With its core theme, ‘Recycling, Circularity and Sustainability in Mobility’, the conclave seeks to align the Indian automotive ecosystem with global best practices on environmental responsibility. The event aims to be a catalyst for change – putting focus on how vehicles and its associated components are designed, manufactured, consumed and, ultimately, responsibly retired.

In view of the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Management Rules and a rising need for compliance under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), the conclave arrives at a critical juncture.

Why this conclave?

India is poised to witness 80 million EVs on the road by 2030. But without parallel efforts in circular economy practices, recycling infrastructure and emission reduction, green mobility may not be truly green. The European Union already recovers 95 percent of vehicle materials from scrapped vehicles, a benchmark India must realistically chase.

Switching to recycled materials, embracing bio-based alternatives and integrating green energy into manufacturing are not just environmental mandates anymore – they are strategic business moves. Reduction in import dependency and a stable supply chain is the need of the hour.

What to expect?

This two-day summit is designed to bring together a powerful mix of automotive manufacturers, recyclers, government leaders, startups and academic minds. And the agenda? Packed with purpose.

Day 1 highlights:

• Session 1: Circular economy lessons – Tapping into waste as a resource, with a strong focus on e-waste, industrial scrap and auto components.
• Session 2: Nature’s waste into products – How bamboo, fruit pulp, seaweed and more are being transformed into auto-grade materials.
• Session 3: From policy to practice – Bridging gaps between regulation and action; featuring deep dives into ESG, green data centres and the Right to Repair.
• Session 4: Industry success stories – Real-world case studies from top OEMs on implementing sustainable systems.

Day 2 focus areas:

• Session 5: Beyond metals – Innovation in plastic, rubber and fibre reuse.
• Session 6: Sustainability education – Building a green-ready workforce.
• Session 7: Organisational sustainability – How automotive companies are embedding sustainability into their DNA.
• Session 8: Leadership reflections – A unique dialogue on the societal impact of green mobility transitions.

Join the movement

The Sustainable Mobility Conclave 2025 isn’t just about talks. It’s about transformation. Whether you’re an OEM, policymaker, recycling expert, student or sustainability advocate, this is where the narrative of Indian future mobility is getting actively debated and jointly co-created.

Because sustainability isn’t a choice anymore. It’s the only road ahead!

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Japanese auto major Honda Motor Co recently established a new retail finance company in India, christened ‘Honda Finance India’. The new company will provide customers with retail sales financing services, including loans and lease sales options for Honda products in India.

The automaker states that with demand for two-wheelers and four-wheelers set to grow in India, there will be a significant growth opportunity for retail finance too. Till now, retail sales financing services has been primarily done by local financial institutions in India.

However, Honda aims to further strengthen its business in India by offering its own sales financing services through a local subsidiary in India. For this, Honda Finance India is applying for a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) license to conduct financial services business in India.

The Japanese company states that for it financial services business has been one of the main business areas and it has established local subsidiaries specialising in retail sales financing services in Japan and various countries in key regions such as North America and Europe. With the establishment of the new company, India became the ninth country where Honda has a local subsidiary to offer financial services.

Going forward, in anticipation of the global expansion of software-defined vehicle (SDV) sales in the future, Honda is looking into opportunities to offer new financial services designed to increase customer satisfaction and the value of the customer experience using various data from Honda SDVs.

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Rakesh Srivastava, the former Managing Director of Nissan Motor India, has been appointed as a Partner at Helyxa Consulting Group, a newly launched firm of senior professionals. Srivastava joins a team with over 150 years of collective experience from top-tier companies across various industries.

Helyxa Consulting Group, which was established on India's Independence Day, is focused on enabling India's growth journey and building a ‘Viksit Bharat’ in line with the vision of a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047. The firm aims to accelerate the growth of Indian companies by providing services in key areas including – AI Transformation, Board Advisory, Deals & Partnerships, Innovation in Entrepreneurship, Leadership & Culture Transformation and Planning & Process Transformation.

Srivastava will work alongside other key partners, including Managing Partner Bhanu Sharma, former President and Global Head of HR and IT at Tega Industries, and Partner Raman Madhok, a board member at Johnson Controls Hitachi and former Joint Managing Director and CEO of JSW Steel. The leadership team also includes Bindu Bhatia and Harish Bhatia.

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German luxury automotive brand BMW India is set to increase prices across its entire model range by up to 3 percent beginning 1 September. The company cites continued foreign exchange impacts and rising material and logistics costs as the primary reasons for the price adjustment.

Vikram Pawah, President and CEO, BMW Group India, said the company has seen significant sales growth in the first half of the year.

“BMW India’s growth and sales momentum in the first half of the year has been remarkable. However, factors like continued forex impact and global supply chain dynamics have been leading to increased material and logistics costs. Our commitment to offer best value and experience throughout customer journey is steadfast. In the festive season, we are geared to introduce several new power-packed profiles of our cars. As the strong demand for BMW’s luxurious, pioneering cars continues, we will deliver exceptional performance and innovation to our valued customers,” he said.

At present, BMW sells the locally produced the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe, BMW 3 Series Long Wheelbase, BMW 5 Series Long Wheelbase, BMW 7 Series, BMW X1, BMW X3, BMW X5, BMW X7, BMW M340i and BMW iX1 Long Wheelbase.

in India. The company also offers a wide selection of imported models, including the BMW i4, BMW i5, BMW i7, BMW i7 M70, BMW iX, BMW Z4 M40i, BMW M2 Coupe, BMW M4 Competition, BMW M4 CS, BMW M5, BMW M8 Competition Coupe and BMW XM (Plug-in-Hybrid) as completely built-up units (CBU).

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