India vs. World: Energy consumption and carbon emissions in primary aluminium

India is the second largest aluminium producer in the world after China, with production reaching over 4.2 million tonnes (mnt) in 2025, as per BigMint data. Around 70-75% of India’s production comprises primary aluminium — a process of extracting and refining bauxite into alumina first and then smelting that alumina into liquid aluminium metal. This primary process of production, as opposed to production of metal with recycled content, is highly energy and emissions intensive. In fact, scrap-based production requires just 15% of the total energy consumed in primary production.