All Things Policy Understanding India's Mineral Diplomacy
Feb 20, 2026
Anindita Sinh, a research associate at CSEP specializing in critical minerals and supply-chain resilience. She walks through why mineral diplomacy matters geopolitically. They cover India’s international partnerships, mapping current agreements, opportunities in Africa and Latin America, and what to push for in plurilateral forums. Practical gaps and onshore processing, R&D and recycling also come up.
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China's Processing Dominance Creates Strategic Risk
- China controls most processing for rare earths and many critical minerals, creating strategic supply risks.
- This dominance pushed countries to seek partnerships and diversify supply chains.
India's Import Reliance Is Substantial
- India is almost 100% import-reliant for most listed critical minerals and must partner internationally short-to-medium term.
- Domestic exploration is limited and needs higher budgets and better mapping to reduce reliance.
Match Partnerships To Partner Strengths
- Prioritise partnerships suited to partner strengths: upstream with resource-rich Australia and Africa, downstream with technology-rich EU and US.
- Use MOUs, investment partnerships and R&D hubs to translate agreements into supply-chain capacity.