cobalt

The federal government has unveiled new details of its plan to create a $1.2 billion critical mineral reserve. Three minerals will initially be the focus: antimony, gallium and rare earths (a group of 17 different elements).

Every additional EV, wind turbine, transmission line, or storage system intensifies pressure on supply chains that are already concentrated and geopolitically sensitive. Competing solely on mining is neither sufficient nor sustainable.

Once the new plants are commissioned, Attero’s overall processing capacity across e-waste and metals recovery will reach 244,000 tonnes per annum.

A new report by KPMG outlines strategies to enhance resilience and competitiveness in India’s electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem amid sharply rising demand for critical raw materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements.

As India ramps up solar installations and EV deployments, the volume of end-of-life components will grow rapidly. If these are treated simply as waste, we create new environmental burdens and miss a chance to recover value. If, instead, they are viewed as sources of supply, they become part of the solution.

India’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) programme for cell manufacturing has attracted investment into gigafactories and electrode production, but local manufacturing can only succeed if it has access to steady, domestic mineral feedstock. Recovered materials from end-of-life batteries can supply a meaningful share of that requirement, provided there is strong collection infrastructure, organised supply aggregation, and investment in processing technologies.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved an INR 1,500 crore incentive scheme to develop recycling capacity in the country for the separation and production of critical minerals from secondary sources.

India is well-placed to advance the e-mobility circular economy in Asia against the backdrop of the fast-growing market and recycling strategies. Adopting the 5Rs—Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Remanufacture, and Recycle—can help in reducing resource depletion and waste.

Given the demand and the unavailability of Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, Manganese, and Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in sufficient quantities, as a nation, we may be staring at a scenario we had with crude.

At a time when many countries struggle with energy nationalism and policy flip-flops, India’s independent power producer (IPP)-driven model offers a decentralised, market-based, and scalable solution to clean energy growth. Their role in catalysing 250 GW of new capacity by 2030 will be central to India’s climate pledges under the Paris Agreement and its goal of net-zero emissions by 2070.