Chennai, Nov. 7 -- India is taking major steps to strengthen its rare earth minerals sector as part of a seven-year national mission aimed at reducing dependence on imports and building a resilient supply chain via State PSUs, said R Saravanabhavan, Deputy Adviser (Minerals), Niti Aayog.

Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of the CII Conference on 'Building Resilient Rare Earth Metal (REM) Supply Chains Through Technology Localization' in Chennai, Saravanabhavan said the National Critical Mineral Mission has been launched for 24 critical minerals, including rare earth elements.

"Already, IREL is there. IREL is a PSU of the Government of India. It's under DAE (Department of Atomic Energy). They are already doing a good job. So some state PS...