India’s critical minerals

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated03/07/2023

In a strategic move, the Centre has identified 30 critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, tin and copper, which are essential for the country’s economic development and national security.

These are minerals that are essential for economic development and national security
The lack of availability of these minerals or the concentration of extraction or processing in a few geographical locations could potentially lead to “supply chain vulnerabilities and even disruption of supplies
This is true for minerals such as lithium, graphite, cobalt, titanium, and rare earth elements, which are essential for the advancement of many sectors, including hightech electronics, telecommunications, transport, and defence.
A mineral is characterised as critical when the risk of supply shortage and associated impact on the economy is (relatively) higher than other raw materials.
This definition of a critical mineral was first adopted in the US and the subsequent legislation that resulted from the analysis

The identification of critical minerals “will help the country to plan for the acquisition and preservation of such mineral assets taking into account the long term need of the country
In turn, it will reduce the import dependency as India is 100% import dependent for certain elements

Most countries of the world have identified critical minerals as per their national priorities and future requirements.
In India too, some efforts have been made in the past to identify the critical minerals including the 2011 initiative by the Planning Commission of India (now NITI Aayog)
- It highlighted the need for the “assured availability of mineral resources for the country’s industrial growth”, with a clear focus on the well-planned exploration and management of already discovered resources.
- That report analysed 11 groups of minerals under categories such as metallic, nonmetallic, precious stones and metals, and strategic minerals.
From 2017 to 2020, a big thrust was accorded to the study of exploration and development of rare earth elements in the country.
In November 2022, the Ministry of Mines constituted a seven-member Committee under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines to identify a list of minerals critical to our country
- The specific trigger for the latest exercise are India’s international commitments towards reducing carbon emissions
- This requires India to urgently relook at its mineral requirements for energy transition and net-zero commitments.
India has recently been inducted into the Mineral Security Partnership (MSP), a US-led collaboration of 14 countries that aims to catalyse public and private investment in critical mineral supply chains globally.

In its three-stage assessment for identifying the minerals critical to India, the panel, in the first stage, looked at the strategies of various countries such as Australia, USA, Canada, UK, Japan and South Korea.
Accordingly, a total of 69 elements/minerals that were considered critical by major global economies were identified for further examination,due importance was given to domestic initiatives as well.
In the second stage of assessment, an inter ministerial consultation was carried out with different ministries to identify minerals critical to their sectors.
The third stage assessment was to derive an empirical formula for evaluating minerals criticality, taking cognizance of the EU methodology that considers two major factors namely economic importance and supply risk.
Based on this process, a total of 30 minerals were found to be most critical for India, out of which two are critical as fertiliser minerals
Antimony, Beryllium, Bismuth, Cobalt, Copper, Gallium, Germanium, Graphite, Hafnium, Indium, Lithium, Molybdenum, Niobium, Nickel, PGE, Phosphorous, Potash, REE, Rhenium, Silicon, Strontium, Tantalum, Tellurium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Vanadium, Zirconium, Selenium and Cadmium.

The committee also called for establishing a National Institute or Centre of Excellence on critical minerals on the lines of Australia’s CSIRO, which is one of the largest in the world.
This proposed Centre will periodically update the list of critical minerals for India and notify the critical mineral strategy from time to time
It will also execute a range of functions for the development of an effective value chain of critical minerals in the country.

A Joint venture company namely Khanij Bidesh India Ltd. (KABIL) has been incorporated with equity contribution from three Central Public Sector Enterprises.
It is mandated to identify and acquire overseas mineral assets of critical and strategic nature such as lithium, cobalt and others so as to ensure supply side assurance.
KABIL has initiated engagement with several state owned-organisations of the shortlisted source countries through the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassies to acquire mineral assets, including lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements.

The Geological Survey of India has carried out a G3 stage mineral exploration in Salal-Haimna areas of Reasi district, Jammu & Kashmir
It estimated an inferred resource of 5.9 million tonnes of lithium ore.
Based on the mapping outcome, more exploration programmes on various mineral commodities including lithium will be taken up in future in different parts of the country, including Jammu & Kashmir.

India is seen as a late mover in attempts to enter the lithium value chain, coming at a time when EVs are predicted to be a sector ripe for disruption.
The year 2023 could be an inflection point for battery technology – with several potential improvements to the Li-ion technology, and alternatives to this combination in various stages of commercialisation.