India Lacks a Framework to Map Rare-Earth Magnet Dependence

Rare earth elements and other critical minerals have become central to India's industrial policy because they are essential inputs for clean-energy technologies, electronics and defence equipment. The Ministry of Mines has notified a list of critical minerals for India, and the government amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 through a 2023 amendment to allow private companies to explore and mine several of these minerals, including rare earths, through competitive auction. To reduce reliance on any single supplier, the government also set up Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL), a joint venture tasked with acquiring mineral assets overseas, and later launched the National Critical Mineral Mission to widen domestic exploration, processing and recycling capacity. These steps reflect a broader shift in Indian industrial policy toward building capacity in strategic inputs rather than depending entirely on trade.

This push gained urgency after China tightened export controls on rare-earth magnets and materials, exposing how much of the world's clean-energy and electronics manufacturing depends on a small number of Chinese processing facilities. Much like colonial-era India, which was structured by colonial policy into a supplier of raw materials and a consumer of finished industrial goods, a mineral strategy focused only on securing ore risks leaving India as a raw-material exporter unless matching investment builds capability in the processing and manufacturing stages that add real value.