New Delhi, 23 July: In a significant move towards digitising India’s vast yet unorganised scrap trade sector, Scrapcart has unveiled the country’s first artificial intelligence (AI)-powered online marketplace for industrial scrap. The platform aims to streamline scrap transactions and promote responsible waste disposal across industries, SMEs, multinationals, and recyclers.

Scrapcart, which is based out of Gurugram, Haryana, offers a comprehensive digital solution for the buying and selling of ferrous, non-ferrous, and electronic waste. Its core features include real-time scrap auctions, AI-based price and quality estimation, secure escrow payments, digital documentation, and end-to-end logistics support. The platform aligns with national missions such as Swachh Bharat and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

“The Indian scrap ecosystem is large but highly fragmented and under-digitised. Our goal is to remove inefficiencies from the system, empower recyclers, and make responsible recycling not only viable but profitable,” said Vineet Relia, Founder of Scrapcart.

India generates over 62 million tonnes of waste annually, with the industrial scrap market estimated at USD 18 billion. However, the sector remains dominated by informal networks, middlemen, and manual processes, resulting in pricing inconsistencies, theft, lack of compliance, and logistical hurdles.

Scrapcart seeks to address these issues via a user-friendly digital platform, leveraging artificial intelligence to provide real-time pricing, predictive analytics, GPS tracking, digital weigh-slips, and automated reporting. It eliminates intermediaries and introduces transparency into the procurement and pricing processes.

“India’s scrap economy suffers from opacity, informality, and inefficiencies across collection, segregation, and processing. It is dominated by local syndicates and transport unions, who have gained disproportionate control over the trade in the absence of technology. AI and digital traceability could revolutionise the sector by enhancing transparency, accountability, and operational efficiency,” Relia added.

“AI-powered image recognition and material sorting can improve the efficiency and accuracy of segregation at source. Digital traceability platforms can track material flow across the value chain—from generators to recyclers—ensuring quality, compliance, and accountability. Data analytics can identify demand-supply gaps, predict pricing trends, and optimise logistics. Even implementing blockchain could help reduce losses in scrap,” he explained.

How the Platform Works

Users can list their scrap online, after which buyers may place bids through real-time auctions or tenders. Sellers are then able to accept the most competitive offer, and the transaction is finalised with secure, paperless documentation and payments. Scrapcart also offers managed logistics support to ensure safe collection and transport of materials.

Key Features:

●    No Middlemen: Minimises risks of price manipulation and material theft

●    AI-Enabled Tools: Ensures accurate valuation of volume, quality, and pricing

●    Digital Traceability: Provides complete documentation, GPS tracking, and digital weighment

●    Secure Payments: Escrow-enabled digital contracts assure timely and safe transactions

●    Compliance Support: Enables organisations to meet ESG and EPR norms through automated audit trails

Scrapcart is currently onboarding clients across India, with the ambition of becoming the preferred digital solution for scrap trade within the manufacturing, construction, electronics, and infrastructure sectors.

Call for Policy Reform

“A formal national scrap policy would provide regulatory clarity, incentivise formalisation, and ensure that environmental standards are upheld. A commodity exchange for scrap materials—similar to those for metals or agri-products—could standardise pricing, reduce volatility, and encourage broader participation from institutional buyers and recyclers,” Relia emphasised. “There is a commodity exchange which offers benchmark prices, but since scrap can be categorised into thousands of categories and sub-categories, the challenge lies in deep standardisation.”

Challenges Hindering Circular Economy Transition

“India generates millions of tonnes of scrap annually—from automobiles and construction to e-waste and manufacturing. However, less than 30% of this passes through formal channels,” noted Mr Relia. “To truly move towards a circular economy, we need investment in infrastructure, digital technologies, coherent policies, and—most importantly—a shift in public perception from viewing waste as a burden to recognising it as a valuable resource. In short, we need a mindset shift from ‘waste disposal’ to ‘resource recovery’.”

Way Forward

“India has a unique opportunity to leapfrog into a digitally enabled circular economy. By integrating AI and digital traceability with grassroots waste management, we can unlock environmental and economic gains—creating green jobs, reducing raw material imports, and lowering emissions,” said Relia. “The scrap economy is no longer a peripheral player—it’s central to India’s sustainable growth story.”

Founding Team

Vineet Relia, Founder, is a B.Tech graduate from MIT Manipal with CXO-level experience in real estate and IT sectors. He also served as Managing Partner at Inojo Interim Management.

Co-founder Shobhit Jaiswal is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and a former consultant to the United Nations. He has contributed to public service delivery projects impacting over 100 million citizens and was part of the World Food Programme team that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.

Susheel Kumar, another IIT Delhi alumnus and co-founder, has previously held key roles at Ola, Udaan, Zingbus, and EY. His work focuses on scaling operations in mobility, logistics, and health-tech.

With its strong emphasis on technology, sustainability, and compliance, Scrapcart positions itself as a critical enabler in India’s transition towards a structured, transparent, and circular economy.