Can Indian recyclers meet global quality benchmarks while scaling up sustainably? Hudei Metals believes they can. By installing a high-precision stainless steel sorting line, the family-owned recycler is improving product quality and showing how domestic players can support India’s rising demand for cleaner, responsibly sourced metals.

From a trading firm to a recycling benchmark

Brij Mohan Garg founded Hudei Metals four decades ago as a small metal trading business. Over the years, the company has steadily transformed into one of India’s recognised stainless steel recyclers. This transformation gained momentum under the leadership of his sons, Rakesh and Manish Garg, who shifted the company’s focus from trading to processing and value-added recycling.

Today, Hudei produces around 60,000 tonnes of stainless steel each year. Industry peers often point to its operations as proof that organised recycling can deliver both scale and consistency in a market that has long remained fragmented. The company’s progress reflects a wider change across India, where recyclers face growing pressure to improve traceability, product quality, and environmental performance.

India’s size and consumption patterns continue to shape this journey. With a population of more than 1.4 billion and fast-growing infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, demand for metals keeps increasing. At the same time, rising environmental awareness and stricter regulations are pushing industries to rely more on recycled materials. Against this backdrop, Hudei aims to prove that Indian recyclers can meet international standards without sacrificing efficiency or cost competitiveness.

New technology to meet higher standards

To address rising quality expectations, Hudei installed a new stainless steel sorting line in 2023. The company equipped the system with technology from Steinert, a global supplier of sensor-based sorting solutions. At the core of the line is an induction-based ISS sorter that detects conductive metals with high accuracy.

The equipment identifies very small particles, including objects smaller than one millimetre. This capability allows Hudei to remove impurities more effectively and produce cleaner, more uniform stainless steel fractions. Such precision has become increasingly important as customers demand consistent quality, whether Hudei supplies material within India or to overseas markets.

Operational needs also guided the technology choice. The sorting system combines strong performance with simple operation, a critical advantage in fast-growing markets where reliability and ease of use directly influence productivity. By upgrading its technology, Hudei expects to strengthen its position in the domestic market while appealing more strongly to international buyers seeking reliable secondary raw materials.

Part of India’s wider recycling momentum

Hudei’s investment shows broader trends across India’s recycling sector. The country’s recycled metals market, valued at around €10.5 billion in 2024, is expected to grow to about €17.4 billion by 2033. Manufacturing companies are driving much of this growth as they increase their use of secondary raw materials, including stainless steel, to lower costs and reduce carbon emissions linked to primary metal production.

Advanced sorting technologies play a key role in this shift. By improving recovery rates from complex scrap streams, recyclers extract more value while reducing waste. These gains also support national sustainability goals by lowering energy consumption and emissions across the metal value chain.

Hudei worked closely with its technology partner during the installation of the new sorting line, carrying out test runs and on-site training to ensure a smooth start-up. Looking ahead, the company plans to keep refining its operations and investing in modern processes. The Garg brothers believe consistency, quality, and the right technology will shape the future of stainless steel recycling in India, encouraging more domestic recyclers to follow the same path.