Since January 2025, India has signed 15 agreements focusing on the acquisition of critical minerals essential for clean energy technologies, positioning itself as a key player in the global race to secure these resources. These minerals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, copper, and rare earth elements, are crucial for manufacturing components like electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, and semiconductors.
With these agreements, India ranks just behind the United States, which leads with 41 agreements, and ahead of other major players like China, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and the European Union, each with 11 agreements. The initiative is part of India’s broader strategy to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers and bolster its domestic capabilities in exploration, processing, manufacturing, and recycling of critical minerals.
The National Critical Mineral Mission, launched in January 2025, underpins these efforts, with a government allocation of Rs 16,300 crore aimed at attracting an additional Rs 18,000 crore in investment. The mission includes plans for 1,200 domestic exploration projects and the acquisition of overseas mining assets through collaborations between public and private companies.
Key partnerships include the collaboration between state-owned Khanij Bidesh India Ltd and Argentina’s CAMYEN to explore five lithium blocks spanning 15,703 hectares. India is also pursuing joint investment opportunities in lithium and cobalt with Australia and has expanded cooperation with Germany and Norway.
The global landscape of critical minerals acquisition is marked by increasing government cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding. However, transparency issues persist, with 39 percent of these agreements lacking publicly available texts. This highlights the need for enhanced transparency in such international dealings.
As global demand for clean energy technologies grows, India faces the challenge of moving beyond securing raw materials to building robust domestic manufacturing capabilities. Developing sustainable supply chains, creating employment, and enhancing industrial capacity are vital for India to maintain its competitive edge in the critical minerals sector.