Amid a craving for the Rare Earth Metals for domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and other greener technologies, India has planned to invest in indigenous rare earth extraction projects. A new scheme with a proposed outlay of up to Rs 2500 crore, the impetus behind the new prospects has attracted interest from major industrial players, Bloomberg reported.
The Policy draft is expected to be submitted to the Union Cabinet for quick approval. The final layout of the plan, including financial allocations, is still under review and it can be changed. The move signals an ambitious shift in India’s approach to securing critical mineral supply chains.
Mining conglomerate Vedanta Group has expressed its early interest in the initiative. The programme seeks to reduce India’s heavy dependence on China, which dominates nearly 90% of the global rare earth processing and magnet production.
India’s Bid to Gain Independence Against China’s Hegemony
The tightening export control of rare earth minerals from China has pushed India to urgently promote domestic capacity amid the escalating trade tensions with the United States. These curbs have disrupted the supply chains, particularly for the automobile industry, due to its heavy dependence on rare earth metals.
The PLI scheme would also support investments in mining, refining, and manufacturing permanent magnets. Such changes may further establish India’s ambitions to become a global supplier of critical materials.
If the planned initiatives lead to the forecasted results, India’s manufacturing and extracting initiatives can also attract global partners, initiate a diversification beyond control of China over rare earth magnet supplies.
India’s EV sector, as well as the turbine manufacturing units, are the largest demand centers of rare earth metals. All of these industries together demand close to 4,010 metric tons of domestic demand in 2025. The overall demand would more than double by 2030. To aid the new rare earth mineral needs, the government is planning an amendment to the Mines and Minerals Act to support the critical mineral mission. Besides regulatory tweaks, the Centre is also planning a commercially viable domestic production of rare-earth permanent magnets in small quantities this year.
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