The Indian economy is in an expansionary phase. Its future growth and national security are closely tied to its ability to secure and develop strategic commodities – critical minerals and rare earths - that have become vital in the world’s energy transition and technology-driven defense preparedness.

Critical minerals are essential for clean energy technologies (electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines), electronics, defense and high-tech industries like healthcare, space tech and e-mobility. For this, key minerals include lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, copper, gallium, germanium, indium etc.

India’s import dependence for many of these minerals raises known and unknown risks. The decade of the 2020s has so far been a highly disruptive one – call it ‘disruptive decade’; and is unlikely to change anytime soon. Headwinds of geopolitical instability and geo-economic uncertainty are beginning to fracture the world.

Sanctions, protectionism, resource nationalism, trade controls and stockpiling are the order of the day. These developments have inevitably led to disruption of established supply chains, constricted availability of critical minerals and forced price volatility.

India needs to put in place a credible, forward-looking, long-term strategy to secure critical minerals and rare earths. As a positive step, in January 2025, the government launched National Critical Minerals Mission (NCMM) that seeks to achieve self-reliance by securing long-term sustainable supplies and strengthening the country’s critical mineral value chains encompassing all stages from mineral exploration and mining to beneficiation, processing and recovery from end-of-life products. 

Achieving critical minerals security must become a national effort – nay, a national obsession – for which close coordination between the Centre and the States is critical. 

There are 24 critical minerals listed in the new Part-D of the First Schedule of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. It includes Lithium, Nickel, Tungsten, Titanium, Graphite, etc. These minerals have been specified as critical and strategic minerals because of concentration of production and supply in limited geographies around the world. These minerals are difficult to explore and mine as compared to surfacial or bulk minerals. 

India has reserves and resources of some of these minerals that deserve expeditious exploration. Several simultaneous steps are necessary.

In case of international partnerships, for example, invite the US to invest in India for critical minerals exploration and mining; but build safeguards that would secure India’s share of mined critical minerals.

The upcoming Union Budget 2026-27 must pay attention to the critical minerals sector by laying down a roadmap with clear milestones. For that, a prior assessment of India’s own requirement of minerals over the next 5 – 10 – 20 years is necessary.

Mining and minerals production is a long-term economic activity with energy intensity. Also, there’s an inescapable ‘gestation period’ of a few years between initial investment and first results. Investors’ trust on long-term policy stability and transparency is key. The FM has her job cut out.