India expects to finalise its critical minerals stockpiling policy within about a month, as planned processing parks and a ₹1,500-crore recycling scheme support efforts to strengthen domestic mineral supply chains.
India expects to finalise its critical minerals stockpiling policy within about a month, Mines Secretary Keshav Chandra said on 9 October 2026. The proposed framework is intended to strengthen supply security for strategic industries by establishing procedures for releasing minerals from a national reserve, including the quantities available and the users eligible to receive them.
Speaking on the sidelines of an industry event in New Delhi, Chandra said India needed alternative supply mechanisms for minerals that were not sufficiently available domestically. He also highlighted the importance of recycling, overseas sourcing, domestic processing technology and faster operationalisation of auctioned mines. The final stockpiling policy has not yet been published, leaving its mineral coverage, target inventory levels, procurement arrangements and release conditions unconfirmed.
Stockpiling Targets Critical Mineral Supply Risks
India’s proposed strategic reserve forms part of a broader effort to reduce vulnerabilities in the supply chains supporting advanced manufacturing, clean energy, electronics and defence. The country’s official critical minerals list contains 30 minerals identified for their economic and strategic importance.
Lithium, nickel and cobalt are important to battery supply chains, while rare earth elements are used in permanent magnets and other advanced applications. Copper is essential to electrical infrastructure and industrial equipment. Differences in geology, refining requirements and market concentration mean that each mineral presents distinct supply risks.
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The National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM), approved by the Union Cabinet in January 2025, provides the broader policy framework. It covers exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing, recycling, research and overseas mineral acquisition.
The mission has a government expenditure outlay of ₹16,300 crore through the 2030–31 financial year, including ₹2,600 crore in budgetary support. An additional ₹18,000 crore in investment is expected from public-sector enterprises and other stakeholders, bringing the anticipated overall investment to ₹34,300 crore.
The proposed stockpile is intended to complement these longer-term measures. Strategic reserves can help bridge temporary supply interruptions, but they cannot replace commercially viable mines, reliable processing capacity or diversified international supply agreements.
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Four Processing Parks Planned to Expand Domestic Capacity
India is supporting plans for four critical mineral processing parks in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Odisha, with ₹500 crore allocated for their development under the NCMM.
The initiative aims to strengthen domestic processing capabilities and encourage greater value addition within the country. Mineral processing can involve concentration, separation, chemical conversion and refining, depending on the material and its intended industrial use.
For mining companies and processors, additional domestic infrastructure could create opportunities to convert mineral feedstock into higher-value products. Manufacturers could also benefit from a wider range of domestic sourcing options if the facilities achieve commercially competitive production.
However, the allocation does not establish that the parks are operational or that construction has been completed. Their eventual contribution will depend on project execution, technology selection, feedstock availability, infrastructure, environmental approvals and operating costs. Individual commissioning dates and production capacities remain unconfirmed in the information available for this report.
Developing processing technology will be equally important. Facilities must achieve competitive recovery rates, consistent product quality and reliable output to support industrial customers. Infrastructure investment alone does not guarantee commercially viable production.
Recycling Scheme Attracts 58 Eligible Companies
Recycling is another component of India’s strategy to diversify critical mineral supplies. The government launched a ₹1,500-crore incentive scheme in October 2025 to support domestic recovery of critical minerals from secondary sources, including electronic waste, lithium-ion battery scrap and other eligible industrial scrap.
By April 2026, 58 companies had been approved as eligible to participate in the scheme. The companies reported approximately 850,000 tonnes per year of pledged recycling capacity and around ₹5,000 crore in pledged investment.
The pledged capacity exceeds the scheme’s target of developing at least 270,000 tonnes per year of recycling capacity. However, these figures represent commitments from eligible companies, not verified operating capacity or actual mineral recovery. Project execution and the commencement of production are necessary before the pledged capacity can translate into additional commercial supply.
The scheme is designed to incentivise the separation and production of critical minerals from secondary materials, rather than merely the manufacture of intermediate products such as battery black mass. Black mass is produced during the mechanical processing of used lithium-ion batteries and contains recoverable metals whose composition varies with battery chemistry.
Mines Secretary Chandra has also called for greater domestic processing of black mass instead of exporting it. Developing domestic recovery and refining capabilities could retain more mineral value within India and provide additional feedstock for industrial supply chains.
Recycling will nevertheless remain dependent on the availability of suitable scrap, collection systems, recovery yields and the economics of individual materials. It can supplement primary mining but cannot immediately replace it.
Implementation Will Determine the Policy’s Commercial Impact
The stockpiling proposal, processing parks and recycling incentives address different parts of the critical minerals value chain. A reserve could provide a buffer against temporary disruptions, domestic processing could expand the range of materials produced within India, and recycling could recover minerals from products already in circulation.
For mining companies and processors, the final stockpiling rules will be particularly important. The government will need to establish which minerals qualify, how inventory levels are determined, how procurement is financed, what product specifications apply and how materials are allocated during a disruption.
Procurement arrangements could influence demand for qualifying domestic mineral products, imported materials and recycled feedstock. However, the direction and scale of any commercial impact cannot yet be established because the final policy has not specified these arrangements.
The processing parks face a parallel test: allocated funding must translate into projects that secure technology, raw materials and customers and eventually deliver commercially viable output. Likewise, the recycling scheme’s pledged capacity must translate into operating facilities and measurable mineral recovery.
India’s proposed stockpiling policy represents a further step towards strengthening critical mineral supply security. Its effectiveness will depend on the final reserve framework and whether the wider programme delivers reliable, economically viable supplies across the mineral value chain.
