New Delhi, June 26 -- India risks falling short of its National Electric Mobility Mission goals for 2030 if it continues to neglect the domestic processing of critical minerals, despite identified reserves, the Exim Bank has cautioned in its latest report.
Despite possessing reserves of key inputs such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements (REEs), India contributes less than 1 per cent to their global output.
This disjuncture, the report notes, leaves the country vulnerable to external supply shocks and geopolitical disruptions, especially as the demand for clean energy technologies surges.
The report, titled "India's Need to Secure Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition," underscores that India's clean energy ambitions-particularly its target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity and the electrification of the transport sector-are increasingly threatened by an overreliance on imported minerals and the absence of a functional mineral processing ecosystem.
According to the report, India currently imports 100 per cent of its lithium and nickel, and over 93 per cent of its cobalt and rare earth element requirements. The absence of a robust domestic processing ecosystem and increasing demand for clean energy technologies pose a strategic risk to long-term energy security.
The report draws particular attention to China's dominance in the mineral processing industry. China accounts for 60 per cent of global lithium refining and more than 80 per cent of REE processing. This concentration of midstream and downstream capabilities means that even if India expands its mining output, its reliance on foreign processing infrastructure will persist, limiting its ability to utilise domestic resources fully.
The report observes that "Inadequate refining capacity remains a critical bottleneck," noting that India's ability to convert raw minerals into usable components for batteries, solar modules, or wind turbines is constrained by technological and infrastructural gaps.
To address this, the report recommends urgent action on three fronts: accelerating international mineral acquisition through agencies like Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL), developing domestic processing infrastructure, and creating strategic stockpiles of key minerals. It also calls for enhanced private sector participation in exploration and value addition.
The report warns that failure to close the supply-demand gap could result in long-term vulnerabilities in the energy value chain and weaken India's negotiating power in international mineral markets. The findings underscore the need for a coordinated national policy-mirroring steps taken by other major economies-to ensure sustained access to critical minerals that underpin India's clean energy transition.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.