Enhancing resource efficiency and promoting the use of secondary raw materials has emerged as a strategy for ensuring that the potential trade-off between growth and environmental well-being can be minimized. An overarching policy is required in order to enable efficient use of resources and upcycling of wastes across all sectors and regions of the country. India’s National Resource Efficiency Policy (NREP), 2019 seeks to create a facilitative and regulatory environment to mainstream resource efficiency across all sectors by fostering cross-sectoral collaborations, development of policy instruments, action plans and efficient implementation and monitoring frameworks. NREP is guided by 16 principles of (i) reduction in primary resource consumption to ‘sustainable’ levels, in keeping with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and staying within the planetary (ii) creation of higher value with less material through resource-efficient and circular approaches, (iii) waste minimization, (iv) material security, and (v) creation of employment opportunities and business models beneficial to the cause of environment protection and restoration.