Metal recycling stocks to buy: Gravita, Pondy Oxides, Jain Resource among top picks

India’s metals story is moving from mining to recycling as higher consumption, resource constraints and sustainability requirements make recycled material a more important source of supply across lead, copper and aluminium, according to Ashika Institutional Equities.

The brokerage said regulatory frameworks such as the Battery Waste Management Rules and Extended Producer Responsibility are speeding up the shift from informal scrap processing to organised recycling, creating a long-term growth opportunity for compliant players.

Ashika said lead offers the strongest earnings visibility because of a predictable battery replacement cycle, rising domestic scrap availability and regulatory support. It added that copper presents the biggest long-term opportunity as a widening domestic supply gap, electrification-led demand growth and the highest EBITDA generation per tonne among recycled metals support the segment.

Aluminium, Ashika said, is emerging as a decarbonisation opportunity, with secondary aluminium offering 95 per cent energy savings and benefiting from the growing use of low-carbon materials. On stocks, Ashika initiated coverage on Gravita India with a BUY.

It said Gravita offers a diversified recycling platform with strong earnings visibility, backed by capacity expansion, backward integration into copper recycling, higher lead capacities and a rising share of value-added products. Ashika said the company’s procurement network, built through owned and direct scrapyard relationships and a wider collection footprint, gives it better sourcing economics.

It added that formalisation under the Battery Waste Management Rules should help organised players such as Gravita gain market share. Ashika values the stock at 31.9 times FY28E earnings per share of Rs 70.6 and set a target price of Rs 2,260.

Ashika also initiated Pondy Oxides and Chemicals with a BUY, saying the company has strong earnings growth potential as its large lead capacity expansion enters the monetisation phase. The brokerage said a bigger contribution from copper cathodes and other value-added products should support margin expansion, diversify earnings and make copper the company’s second growth engine.

 Ashika also pointed to its expansion pipeline, land bank, strategic assets and financial position. It values POCL at 21 times FY28E earnings per share of Rs 35 and has set a target price of Rs 730.

For Jain Resource Recycling, Ashika initiated with a BUY and said the company is nearing an earnings inflection, driven by the scale-up in copper value-added products and a stable earnings base from its lead recycling business.

It said the recent joint venture with C&Y and partnerships with a Kuwait-based company strengthen JRRL’s global procurement network, improve raw material security and support sourcing economics. It also said niche metal recovery from recycled scrap offers an additional margin lever. Ashika values JRRL at 27.5 times FY28E earnings per share of Rs 14 and fixed a target price of Rs 400.

More broadly, Ashika said the industry is moving beyond basic metal recovery into alloys, conductors, busbars and speciality products, with value addition becoming more important for margins and customer relationships. It added that access to scrap through sourcing networks, collection capability and regulatory compliance is becoming more critical than installed capacity in deciding long-term leadership.

Ashika said Gravita gives investors exposure to a diversified recycling platform, POCL reflects a copper-led transformation and JRRL offers direct exposure to copper growth and downstream integration. It flagged slower-than-expected formalisation, scrap availability and sourcing constraints, and global trade restrictions on scrap movement as the key risks for the sector.