India is moving to secure its critical mineral supply chains by strengthening all stages of production, from exploration and mining to material recovery from finished products, the Mines Ministry told Parliament this month.
The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has intensified its search for these strategic resources, Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy told the House on February 4. The Geological Survey of India conducted 195 significant mineral exploration projects in 2024-2025 and started 230 projects for 2025-2026.
In addition, the National Mineral Exploration and Development Trust (NMEDT) has approved 62 projects for 2024-2025 and 60 projects for 2025-2026 through notified private and government agencies. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR Act), 1957, was amended in 2025 to expand the scope of NMEDT to support mineral exploration and mining abroad, Reddy said.
Since 2023, the government has auctioned off 46 areas of important and strategic minerals, along with seven areas under the prospecting licensing system. The Federal Cabinet also approved A $1,500 crore incentive scheme for recycling critical metals.
To enhance global supply, Khanig Bedesh India Limited (KABIL) has signed an agreement with CAMYEN, a state-owned company in Catamarca Province, Argentina, to extract five salt lithium blocks covering an area of 15,703 hectares.
Domestically, the government plans to develop four mineral processing parks by 2030. During the 2025-26 budget, the Center exempted 25 minerals from basic customs duties, including cobalt powder and lithium-ion battery scrap.
“The National Critical Minerals Mission (NCMM) envisages securing long-term sustainable supplies of critical minerals and strengthening critical mineral value chains in India… with the aim of reducing import dependency for strategic sectors such as electronics, clean energy and manufacturing,” Reddy said in a written response.
To speed up production, the government exempted mining projects for atomic and critical minerals from public hearings and allowed compensatory afforestation on degraded forest land. The Ministry of Environment processes these permits under separate, non-public oversight on the Parivesh 2.0 portal, an automated system for environmental clearance applications.
However, experts have warned of the environmental damage of these strategies. China currently processes more than half of the world’s lithium and two-thirds of its cobalt production, a dominance built on early investments and historically loose environmental standards.
Lori Myllyvirta, senior analyst at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, noted that China has followed a “pollute first, clean up later” path that has led to terrible air and water pollution.
“The cleanup involved relocating facilities, implementing major process overhauls and pollution control modifications… which is very expensive but still results in a far worse outcome than avoiding the pollution in the first place,” Mylvirta said.
In 2023, India has identified 30 minerals as important, including antimony, beryllium, bismuth, cobalt, copper, gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, indium, lithium and nickel.
