India and Russia are actively exploring strategic collaboration in rare earth minerals and critical minerals extraction, driven by India’s aim to reduce its dependency on China, which currently dominates over 65% of India’s rare earth imports. Russian state-run companies, notably Nornickel and Rosatom, are considered key potential partners in this sector. India is interested not only in securing supply but also in accessing Russian rare earth processing technologies currently in pilot stages in Russia, with the hope of commercializing these in India jointly.
Indian research institutions such as the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian School of Mines (Dhanbad), and the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (Bhubaneswar) are studying Russian processing technologies. This partnership effort also fits within broader India-Russia cooperation on modern industrial infrastructure, underground coal gasification, and critical minerals extraction for clean energy applications.
The collaboration includes scientific cooperation agreements signed between Rosatom and Indian scientific bodies to develop technologies for processing rare earth metals for various industries. Indian companies like Lohum and Midwest are also exploring technical collaborations with Russian firms to build local magnet production capabilities. Although there are no finalized commercial deals yet, these efforts indicate a strategic direction to diversify supply chains and reduce Chinese monopoly on rare earth minerals.
This initiative is part of a larger Indian government push that includes incentives aimed at developing domestic magnet production worth Rs 7,300 crore and stockpiling rare earth materials for enhanced supply security.
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