The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a scheme to promote manufacturing of rare earth permanent magnets, said Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The ‘Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Sintered Rare Earth Permanent Magnets’ has an outlay of ₹7,280 crore and was approved at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the minister said.
“The scheme will promote manufacturing of rare earth permanent magnets. The aim is to create capacity of 6,000 MTPA (metric tonne per annum),” Vaishnaw told reporters, adding that “without permanent rare earths and semiconductor chips, no manufacturing is practically possible.”
India is trying to reduce its dependence for rare earths on China after the latter imposed restrictions on the exports of rare earth magnets, which it is abundant in. The magnets are used in major industries including electric vehicles, aerospace, electronics, medical devices and defence.
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Calling it a “strategic win for the country”, Vaishnaw said the programme will run for seven years from the date of the award, including a 2-year gestation period for setting up an integrated Rare Earth Permanent Magnets (REPM) manufacturing facility and 5 years for incentive disbursement on the sale of REPM.
The scheme includes allocating the total capacity of 6,000 MTPA to five beneficiaries through a global competitive bidding process, with each beneficiary allotted up to 1,200 MTPA of capacity.
The plan has drawn initial interest from several Indian firms, including UK-based billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group and Sajjan Jindal led-JSW Group among others, reported a US-based leading daily in July.
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