The Abhishek Group has partnered with Japan-based Kaiho Sangyo to open a new Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF) in India. The joint venture, called Abhishek K Kaiho or AKK for short, inaugurated its first scrappage facility in Haryana in the presence of Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India on May 10, 2022. The company says that the RVSF has the capacity to process up to 1,800 vehicles a month and uses the latest technologies to salvage and re-use components from scrapped vehicles.
The Abhishek Group has been in the automotive sector for several decades manufacturing vehicle safety equipment such as seatbelts, parking sensors and sensors along with several automotive accessories, electronics and more. Kaiho Sangyo Japan meanwhile specialises in vehicle scrappage.
“The AKK plant is the first unique facility in India that uses modern technology to salvage and reuse maximum number of components from the vehicle and help recycle commodities like steel and plastic by melting and reuse in an environmentally friendly manner. The plant has a capacity to recycle 1800 vehicles every month and we will setup another 7 to 8 facilities across the country within the next few years” said Anirudh Kedia, Director of AKK.
Speaking at the inauguration Nitin Gadkari highlighted the need for the scrappage policy in a bid to control pollution with older vehicles prone to having higher emission levels owing to a number of factors. He also added that the policy would also help benefit the automotive industry by helping provide recycled raw materials at a lower cost thus reducing vehicle costs.
As per the Government's new scrappage policy, all vehicles at the end of their registration period are required to undergo fitness testing. Only post this can the vehicle be eligible for re-registration. Post-re-registration the vehicle has to be fitness tested every five years. Currently, commercial vehicles require mandatory testing after 10 years while passenger cars have a shelf life of 15 years. The government also provides incentives to owners voluntarily scrapping their vehicle including scrap value of between 4-6 per cent of the car's ex-showroom price and registration fee waiver on a new car.
Gadkari also announced plans to use raw materials from old tyres and plastics in the construction of the country's road network. He also indicated that he had approached the Environment ministry to allow for the import of old tyres for the same purpose. This is not the first instance of scrap materials being used for road building. In March a stretch of road in Gujarat was built using recycled steel slag as part of a R&D study sponsored by the Ministry of Steel.
Aside from the inauguration of the new facility, Abhishek Group announced two additional joint venture. The first is with Japan-based Sumori Metal to manufacture high-security registration plates (HSRP) and the second with German company Elektrosil to manufacture vehicle cooling systems including seat ventilation systems. The company revealed that it had already set-up a plant in Manesar, Haryana to manufacture HSRPs with an installed capacity of 30 lakh plates per month.
