Is the cadmium limit in India's battery rules 0.002% or 2,000 parts per million, and which of them is 20 parts per million?
0.002% is 20 parts per million (ppm), not 2,000. Schedule I of the 2022 battery rules printed 0.002% beside 2000 ppm, but 2,000 ppm is 0.2%. The October 2023 amendment reprinted the clause for portable batteries as 0.002% (20 ppm), and the 2025 amendment uses 20 ppm for the marking threshold.
The arithmetic
- 1 ppm is 0.0001%, so 0.002% is 20 ppm. 20 ppm is also 20 milligrams of cadmium in each kilogram of battery.
- 2,000 ppm is 0.2%, one hundred times higher.
- 0.002% matches the 20 ppm used in the 2023 and 2025 text, so the 2,000 ppm printed in 2022 is the outlier. This is my reading of the printed text.
How the text moved
- August 2022, Schedule I paragraph 1(ii): a battery that contains up to 0.002% (2000 ppm) of cadmium by weight may only be placed.
- October 2023: the clause was substituted to read that a portable battery that contains up to 0.002% (20 ppm) of cadmium by weight shall only be placed.
- February 2025: a proviso says marking of the chemical symbol Cd or Pb is not applicable where cadmium is 0.002% (20 ppm) or less, or lead is 0.004% (40 ppm) or less, by weight.
What to ask your test lab for
Ask for cadmium in milligrams per kilogram of the battery or in ppm, and compare with 20. The October 2023 clause names portable batteries. The 2022 clause said battery without that word, so read the current schedule before you apply it to other types.
Where mercury stands
The 2022 text reads: Battery that contains up to 0.0005% (5 ppm) of mercury by weight may only be placed till 2025. Paragraph 1(iii) adds that this shall not apply to button zinc silver oxide Battery with a mercury content < 2% and button zinc air Battery with a mercury content < 2% by weight. I did not read the later amendments for any change to it.
One 1,000 gram battery
- 0.002% of 1,000 grams = 1,000 x 0.00002 = 0.02 grams = 20 milligrams
- 2,000 ppm of 1,000 grams = 1,000 x 0.002 = 2 grams
- A lab report showing 150 milligrams per kilogram is 150 ppm: over the 20 ppm limit by 7.5 times
The 150 milligrams per kilogram is an example result.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into records, so the diesel and power your plant uses are on file. These rules are filed on government portals, outside Senseible's records.
- Battery waste rules and carbon data
- Registration number marking on batteries
- Lead acid battery recycling emissions per tonne
Last reviewed 2026-11-05. The 2022 clause was read in the gazette text. The 2023 and 2025 wording is as described in the amendment notices and was not checked line by line. Schedule I applies to batteries placed in India, so use the current gazette text when you set a test limit.