of the world's lead exports come from India
India exports the most lead despite small lead reserves
India sells more lead to the world than any other country. It accounted for 12.4% of global lead exports in 2025, ahead of Australia at 8% and South Korea at 7%, according to NITI Aayog's latest Trade Watch report. Its slice of world lead demand has grown 9.4 percentage points over the past 10 years.
India has very little lead in the ground, though. Its reserves are about 1.9 million tonnes. Australia has 35 million tonnes, roughly 18 times as much, and China has 22 million tonnes.
The answer is old batteries. Lead can be melted down and used again and again, and over 95% of it can be recycled. Recycled lead is just as good as mined lead and takes less energy to make. Batteries use over 80% of the world's lead and are replaced on a predictable cycle, so the scrap keeps coming.
More than half the lead India uses, about 55%, now comes from recycling. Since the Battery Waste Management Rules of 2022, battery makers have had to collect and recycle old batteries.
It helps to keep this in proportion. Lead is a small market: the world imported $10.2bn of it in 2025, only 0.6% of all metal imports. India exported $1.2bn of lead and imported about the same, $1.2bn. Copper, by comparison, is a $268.6bn market.
So India's lead story is about recycling, not mining. It's a real edge, but in one of the smallest corners of the metals trade.
India exports the most lead with the smallest reserves
Each country's share of world lead exports in 2025, and its lead reserves. India sells the most with 1.9 million tonnes, against Australia's 35 million.
NITI Aayog, Trade Watch Quarterly, April-June (Q1) FY27 (September 2026) · 2025