Critical Minerals and Space Diplomacy
Decode India's critical-minerals strategy (KABIL, MSP, the 30-minerals list) and space diplomacy (Artemis Accords, NISAR, IN-SPACe) through MEA and PMO signaling.
The Critical Minerals Push: Institutional Architecture
India's critical minerals strategy crystallized on 28 June 2023 when the Ministry of Mines released the list of 30 Critical Minerals for India, identified by an expert committee chaired by Veena Kumari Dermal. The list includes lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, the rare-earth elements, gallium, germanium, niobium, and titanium — minerals indispensable to electric vehicle batteries, semiconductors, defense electronics, and renewable-energy infrastructure. Parliament followed on 28 July 2023 with the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023, which removed six atomic minerals (including lithium and beryllium) from the reserved list and authorized the Centre to auction exploration licenses for 24 critical minerals directly, bypassing state governments.
The institutional choreography runs across three ministries. The Ministry of Mines houses the Geological Survey of India (GSI), which announced in February 2023 the discovery of 5.9 million tonnes of inferred lithium resources in Salal-Haimana, Reasi district, Jammu and Kashmir — a figure that, if confirmed at measured-resource stage, would rank India among the world's top seven lithium holders. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) coordinates overseas acquisition through Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL), a joint venture incorporated on 1 August 2019 among NALCO, Hindustan Copper, and Mineral Exploration Corporation. The Ministry of Commerce runs trade-policy instruments including the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) for Advanced Chemistry Cell battery storage, notified 12 May 2021 with an outlay of ₹18,100 crore.
The Diplomatic Geography
KABIL signed its first overseas exploration agreement with CAMYEN SE of Argentina on 15 January 2024 for five lithium brine blocks in Catamarca province covering 15,703 hectares — India's first sovereign lithium acquisition abroad. Australia is the second anchor: the India-Australia Critical Minerals Investment Partnership, announced 10 March 2022 during the virtual summit between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Scott Morrison, channels A$5.8 million through Australia's Critical Minerals Facilitation Office to identify lithium and cobalt projects for Indian off-take. Five projects were shortlisted in March 2023.
The United States dimension operates through the Mineral Security Partnership (MSP), which India joined on 14 June 2023 as the 14th member, announced during Prime Minister Modi's state visit to Washington. The MSP, launched in June 2022 by the US State Department, coordinates financing among likeminded economies for ex-China supply chains. India simultaneously hosts the G20 High-Level Principles on RE-CEYCLE adopted at the New Delhi summit on 9 September 2023, which committed members to circular-economy approaches in critical-mineral recovery.
The African pillar advances through the India-Africa Forum Summit framework and bilateral instruments with the Democratic Republic of Congo (cobalt), Zambia (copper-cobalt), and Mozambique (graphite, where Syrah Resources and Indian processors maintain off-take dialogues). MEA's Economic Diplomacy Division coordinates with Exim Bank of India, whose Lines of Credit to African mineral states totaled US$12.3 billion as of March 2023.
Reading the Signals
When the MEA spokesperson references "resilient supply chains" or "trusted partners," the operative subtext is decoupling from Chinese midstream processing — China controls roughly 60% of global rare-earth mining and over 85% of refining capacity per IEA's 2023 Critical Minerals Market Review. When India joins the MSP but declines to join the Quad's explicit anti-China framing on minerals, that silence is itself signaling: New Delhi preserves strategic autonomy while harvesting Western capital and Australian geology. Track the auction calendar published by the Ministry of Mines — the first tranche of 20 critical-mineral blocks was auctioned on 29 November 2023 — as a leading indicator of which minerals New Delhi treats as politically urgent.