Centre Earns: In an unusual yet striking example of how administrative housekeeping can contribute to the national exchequer, the Government of India has generated hundreds of crores of rupees simply by cleaning up piles of scrap, old files, and broken furniture from central government offices across the country. What began as a routine cleanliness drive has now turned into a major revenue-generating exercise, far exceeding initial expectations and revealing the scale of unused space that had long remained clogged within government departments.
According to official data, the Centre earned ₹800 crore in October alone this year by selling scrap materials, discarded files, and obsolete office equipment. This single-month figure is particularly noteworthy because the amount surpasses the budget of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission by nearly ₹185 crore, highlighting the unexpectedly large potential of structured waste management in government offices.
A Drive That Began in 2021 Now Crosses ₹4,100 Crore in Revenue
The roots of this programme go back to 2021, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a dedicated national administrative cleaning campaign. The initiative aimed not only at improving the cleanliness and efficiency of government offices but also at identifying unused materials that could be responsibly disposed of or recycled.
Since the campaign began, the government has accumulated ₹4,097.28 crore from the sale of scrap, old documents, broken furniture, unusable electronic parts, and other discarded items—an amount that reflects the sheer magnitude of junk lying unattended for decades.
In October 2025 alone, between 2nd and 31st, the government undertook an intensive clean-up across ministries. This resulted in the release of a staggering 232 lakh square feet of office space, equivalent to clearing out multiple large administrative complexes.
Even more noteworthy is the scale of documentation scrap: 29 lakh paper files were cleared and sold just this year, making this the largest clean-up operation in four years.
Over 11.5 Lakh Offices Cleaned Under Central Monitoring
The government has reported that more than 11.5 lakh offices across the country were cleaned under the October operation. The entire programme was supervised by three Union Ministers: Mansukh Mandaviya, K. Rammohan Naidu, and Jitendra Singh.
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) played the central role in coordinating across ministries. It oversaw both the cleaning and the sale of scrap, ensuring seamless inter-ministerial cooperation throughout the campaign.
According to officials, in October alone the DARPG cleaned scrap from 54 ministries, including several overseas missions associated with the Ministry of External Affairs. Over the 2021–2025 period, five large-scale clean-up drives have taken place, all under the broader umbrella of the Modi government’s “Swachhata” (Cleanliness) Campaign.
Reclaiming Nearly 1 Crore Square Feet of Government Space
The government had set clear goals for the multi-year campaign. A total of 23.62 lakh offices were mapped for cleaning, with an estimated 928.84 lakh square feet of office space clogged with old files and unused storage. Of this, a substantial portion has now been cleared.
In total, 166.95 lakh files have been discarded and sold across the years, taking the government’s cumulative earnings to over ₹4,100 crore. The reclaimed space now enables departments to modernise layouts, introduce better digital storage systems, and improve citizen service delivery.
A Complex Task Needing High-Level Intervention
Removing outdated files and materials from government departments was far from simple. According to sources, the three ministers supervising the operation had to hold multiple meetings with senior bureaucrats across ministries to resolve logistical issues. The matter was also placed before the Union Cabinet to ensure that all departments complied with the guidelines.
Throughout the programme, Prime Minister Modi is said to have closely monitored progress and encouraged ministries to participate actively.
Clean-Up Progressed as India Celebrated Chandrayaan-3’s Success
Interestingly, while this administrative clean-up was in motion, ISRO achieved one of its most significant milestones. On 23 August 2023, India became the first nation to land a spacecraft near the Moon’s south pole. The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander Vikram and rover Pragyan successfully explored the lunar surface for several days, earning worldwide acclaim.
The total budget of Chandrayaan-3 was a modest ₹615 crore, making the Centre’s scrap earnings significantly higher than the cost of this landmark mission.
India Prepares to Extract Rare Minerals from E-Waste
Parallel to the scrap-selling campaign, the Central Government has initiated another ambitious programme: extracting rare minerals from electronic waste. To support this, the Modi administration has announced an incentive scheme of ₹1,500 crore, aimed at boosting India’s capacity to recover critical minerals from discarded electronics.
Analysts believe that if successful, the initiative may prove transformative, giving India access to valuable minerals currently dominated by China in the global supply chain.
Over recent years, the usage of electronic devices—smartphones, laptops, smartwatches, tablets, and gaming systems—has expanded dramatically. This growth has led to the rapid accumulation of electronic waste across both urban and rural India.
Many components of these devices contain rare minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are essential for modern technology. Extracting these minerals from e-waste will help India reduce dependence on imports and strengthen the country’s self-reliance in critical electronic manufacturing.
National Critical Mineral Mission Launched
On 4 October 2025, the Union Cabinet approved the creation of the National Critical Mineral Mission, under which the Ministry of Mines will oversee the extraction of rare minerals from electronic waste.
The government has already issued public notifications specifying norms for companies interested in participating. Several major industrial groups have reportedly submitted formal applications, showing strong interest in the emerging sector.
Officials have confirmed that detailed planning and procedural frameworks have been completed, and the extraction work is expected to begin by the end of this year.
India Generates 17.5 Lakh Tonnes of E-Waste Annually
Government data shows that India produces nearly 17.5 lakh tonnes of electronic waste every year, including a significant portion—about 60 kilotonnes—of used lithium-ion batteries. To support domestic recycling, the Centre announced the removal of import duties on used lithium-ion batteries in the 2025–26 Union Budget.
The government expects this change to dramatically boost industrial interest in e-waste recycling over the next four to five years.
A Vision That Merges Cleanliness, Revenue, and Sustainability
The combination of scrap disposal, digital transformation, space recovery, and e-waste recycling indicates a broader shift in the government’s administrative philosophy. What once seemed like mundane cleaning has evolved into a multifaceted programme contributing to:
- Revenue generation
- Environmental sustainability
- Administrative efficiency
- Reduced foreign dependence
- Better public service delivery
As India continues to digitise its governance systems, the removal of outdated physical records and obsolete equipment is becoming essential. Meanwhile, the focus on e-waste recycling reflects a forward-looking approach to resource management in a world where technology dominates daily life.
The coming years will reveal how these initiatives reshape India’s administrative and industrial ecosystem—but early results show promise. What began as a clean-up campaign has grown into a national mission with financial, ecological, and technological benefits, highlighting a new dimension of governance in the country.
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