India moves to tap its rare earth reserves. Can it ease reliance on China?

India, like many countries, faces China restrictions on rare earth exports – and it wants to develop its own domestic supplies. Experts say that this could become an important alternative to China for partners such as the United States, but will require much more public and private investment in the sector.

In recent weeks, the world has been struggling with a shortage of rare land in the light of these borders of China. Car manufacturers across India, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Germany have been affected.

In response, Indian officials evaluate how rare Earths, a company belonging to a government, can be used to increase the production of rare earth magnets, Sources told CNBC-TV18.

The report comes only a few days after the Indian Minister of the Union of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, called the China break in exports of elements of rare land “awakening“For the world and an opportunity for India to provide an alternative.

Geoffrey Pyatt, principal director general of criticism minerals at McLetty Associates and former US Deputy State Secretary for Energy Resources from 2022 to 2025, echo the statements of the Minister of Commerce.

“It is both alarm clock and an opportunity for us to deepen American-Indian collaboration on an important issue for future economic competitiveness,” he told CNBC.

Beijing recently reported plans to facilitate controlsAnd American president Donald Trump said that a trade agreement with China, which includes resolution on rare earths was “do. “But the control of China of rare earth elements (rees) was not a new policy, with progressive restrictions International sales occurring in the past two years.

The recent shortage also underlined the dominant position of the country in rees: it product Approximately 60% of the global supply of rare land and treatment Almost 90%, which includes materials imported from other countries.

This gives Beijing a considerable lever effect on an offer of crucial minerals for various modern technologies, including robotics, clean energy, batteries and military equipment.

It is important to note, however, that the REES are not of a rare nature. While China has the largest REE deposits at 44 million tonnes, India also has a substantial amount of 6.9 million tonnes, according to the US Geological Survey. This gives him the third world share of reserves behind that of Brazil.

India also holds nearly 35% of the global beach and sand mineral deposits, which are large sources of large rare earths, according to a recent report From DK Srivastava, chief advisor to India at EY.

Given these considerable reservations, India is “ready to play a key role in the construction of a more diverse global supply chain of rare land,” Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical mineral security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNBC.

However, in order to use Ree reserves, countries need the ability to extract and extract raw materials, as well as capacity and technology to treat and refine them for final use.

In these regions, the rare Indian earths, founded in 1950, could present a good partner for countries like the United States, said Baskaran, adding that it has no Chinese investment.

India has also launched the National critical mineral mission In 2025 with the aim of developing an effective framework for the self-assessment of Ree in the face of restrictions from China and other threats to the geographically concentrated supply chain.

However, experts say that the construction of interior capacities is quickly a major challenge.

“In the future, substantial additional resources must be allocated by central governments and states as well as the private sector for research and development in the field of rare land,” said Srivastava d’Ey in his report.

Sources have told CNBC-TV18 that the Indian government is also considering collaboration in the private sector with the rare land of India to accelerate interior capabilities. Among the options taken into account are the regimes of incentive to the government and capital subsidies aimed at encouraging mining and local treatment.

“India will not be able to replace China’s position on the market, but it can certainly play an important role in the supply of a new source of rare land,” Baskaran said.

In the meantime, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, said that India is also looking for alternative sources and that it hopes that Indian companies would soon receive China import approvals.

A delegation of Indian representatives of the automotive industry is also preparing for a visit to China in order to accelerate their imports of rare land magnets, according to local reports citing industry sources.