Critical Minerals & Rare Earths Strategy
Rare earths and other critical minerals are the choke points of the clean-energy and defence economy, and India imports most of them, above all from China. Since 2024 New Delhi has layered its response: the 34,300-crore National Critical Mineral Mission spanning exploration to recycling, a 7,280-crore scheme to build rare-earth magnet capacity, dedicated mining corridors in Budget 2026-27, overseas buying through the state venture KABIL, and a Quad framework agreed in New Delhi. That magnet scheme reached its first competitive test in August 2026, when 20 bids came in and the technical bids were opened on 13 August. Domestically the sharp end is the block-auction programme run under the 2023 MMDR amendment, whose eighth tranche opened on 15 July 2026 and is now being taken to investors through state roadshows.
- National Critical Mineral Mission
- NCMM
- rare earth
- REPM scheme
- KABIL
- Quad Critical Minerals Framework
- Ministry of Mines
- rare earth corridors
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