PTI New Delhi

South Korea's LG and Samsung have sued the Indian government to quash a policy which increases payouts to electronic-waste recyclers, court filings show, joining other major companies in contesting the country's environmental rules citing business impact, Reuters reported.

The lawsuits, set to be heard on Tuesday with other challenges, mark an escalation of a standoff involving foreign companies' and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government over its stance towards waste management practices.

LG and Samsung did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. India's Environment Ministry also did not respond. India is the third-biggest e-waste generator behind China and the U.S., but the government says only 43% of the country's e-waste last year was recycled and at least 80% of the sector comprises informal scrap dealers.

Daikin, India's Havells and Tata's Voltas have already sued Modi's administration. Samsung and LG had lobbied against a decision to fix a floor price payable to recyclers, which New Delhi says is needed to get more formal players into the sector and boost investment in e-waste recycling.

LG's filing in the Delhi High Court, which is not public but was reviewed by Reuters on Monday, said the pricing rules "fail to take into consideration that merely by fleecing companies and taxing them in the name of the 'polluter pays principle', the (government) objectives sought to be achieved cannot be achieved."

"(If) the authorities have not been able to regulate the informal sector, then it is an enforcement failure," the 550-page court filing from April 16 showed. Samsung in its 345-page filing, seen by Reuters, said: "The regulation of prices does not inherently serve the purposes of environmental protection," and said this was "expected to cause substantial financial impact."