2 months ago
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Three years ago, and astatine the commencement of India’s G-20 presidency, captious minerals hardly featured arsenic a strategical taxable successful argumentation thinking. As precocious arsenic August 2023, respective captious minerals, including lithium, were inactive classified arsenic atomic minerals, efficaciously barring backstage exploration and mining. But the latest Union Budget shows that thing captious has shifted successful India’s thinking.
The authorities has present signalled that captious minerals person moved to the mainstream, and indispensable go a halfway pillar of India’s industrial, energy, and geopolitical strategy. The accent connected ‘critical minerals’ successful the Budget code is revealing. The absorption is nary longer connected whether India needs a captious minerals argumentation but connected whether India tin present execute portion gathering expertise astatine scale, velocity and depth.
Clear argumentation drive
There is wide argumentation momentum. India present has a database of 30 captious minerals and has eased mineral exploration for inferior miners portion besides rationalising the royalty rates. In January 2025, the authorities launched the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) with a budgetary outlay of ₹16,300 crore. Today, India is among a tiny radical of countries with a broad and ambitious argumentation model for captious minerals.
Yet, ambition unsocial volition not present mineral security. Execution will. It takes years — often decades — to observe and excavation minerals, but extraction is not the lone bottleneck. China controls up to 90% of planetary mineral processing capableness for respective captious minerals. However, investigation by the Council connected Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) suggests that India already has the capabilities to process a fewer minerals to precocious purity levels.
For instance, Indian industries already nutrient high-purity copper, graphite, uncommon world oxides, tin and titanium — often exceeding 99.9% purity. However, existing accumulation is mostly geared towards accepted uses and constricted volumes. Meeting the requirements of cleanable tech and defence volition necessitate further technological upgrading, deeper refining, and capableness expansion. Skills from established sectors specified arsenic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and textiles could beryllium leveraged to process earthy minerals to higher purity and scale.
Priority areas
In this context, Budget 2026 begins the harder enactment of implementation. To prolong this momentum, India indispensable treble down connected 3 priorities: First, make request avenues for processed minerals. The Budget rightly removes import duties connected superior goods utilized successful the processing of captious minerals. Given precocious capex requirements, this improves the competitiveness of upcoming refineries. However, the biggest constraint investors look is not conscionable outgo but besides the deficiency of assured home request for processed minerals. While authorities initiatives enactment home manufacturing of batteries, star modules, upwind turbines, and electrical vehicles, delays successful backward integration proceed to make uncertainty for midstream processors. Boosting the deployment of locally-made electrical vehicles, batteries, solar, and upwind would person almighty third-order effects, strengthening processing, mining, and exploration ecosystems. Demand instauration remains the astir decisive concern argumentation lever.
Second, follow an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-first attack to mineral exploration. The NCMM targets 1,200 exploration projects by FY2031. The Budget strengthens task viability by making exploration expenditure for 9 captious minerals eligible for taxation deductions. Interestingly, 4 of these minerals (beryllium, tantalum, lithium and niobium) were connected the restricted atomic minerals database conscionable 3 years ago. To genuinely de-risk exploration, leveraging exertion volition beryllium critical. India should mandate an AI-first attack to mineral exploration, backed by coherence crossed the IndiaAI Mission, the National Geospatial Policy, and Mission Anveshan. Today, Mission Anveshan focuses connected hydrocarbon find utilizing seismic AI tools. Extending specified capabilities to the National Geoscience Data Repository could importantly amended prospectivity investigation and assistance caller tract discoveries.
Third, leverage geopolitical disruption to physique technological sovereignty. In 2025, the weaponisation of uncommon world magnets and artillery proviso chains exposed the fragility of planetary concern and cleanable vigor policies. The government’s effect — announcing uncommon world corridors crossed coastal States and reducing import duties connected monazite sands — is timely. States should present leverage existing infrastructure and manpower to service planetary demand, creating jobs and boosting determination growth.
International partnerships are key
But beyond section action, India should accelerate organization and concern partnerships with Australia, the European countries, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Many of them person precocious minerals processing oregon analyzable constituent manufacturing capabilities but stay cautious astir exertion transfer. These firms should beryllium nudged and encouraged to acceptable up their facilities successful India to work planetary markets. While the ₹7,280 crore strategy for sintered uncommon world imperishable magnets is simply a start, regulatory certainty, water-tight ineligible frameworks, marketplace entree and probe collaboration volition beryllium arsenic important. Strengthening links betwixt centres of excellence successful India to their planetary counterparts — specified arsenic done the UK-India Critical Minerals Supply Chain Observatory — should beryllium prioritised, including nether the precocious concluded India-European Union Free Trade Agreement.
In a turbulent world, 2026 tin beryllium a twelvemonth of accelerated ambition if approached with speed, assurance and caution. India’s enactment successful captious minerals hinges connected coordinated enactment supported by inter-ministerial coordination, proactive authorities leadership, and planetary partnerships.
Rishabh Jain is Fellow astatine the Council connected Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). The views expressed are personal
