National Critical Mineral Mission

Approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 January 2025 with, in the release's own words, "an expenditure of Rs.16,300 crore and expected investment of Rs.18,000 crore by PSUs, etc." The Mission spans the value chain — exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing and recovery from end-of-life products — and intensifies exploration onshore and in offshore areas. Stated components include a fast-track regulatory approval process for critical-mineral mining projects, financial incentives for exploration, recovery from overburden and tailings, encouragement for Indian public-sector undertakings and private companies to acquire critical-mineral assets abroad and expand trade with resource-rich countries, development of a domestic stockpile of critical minerals, mineral processing parks, recycling support, research promotion and a Centre of Excellence on Critical Minerals. The release situates the Mission after the 2023 amendment of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, the auction of 24 strategic-mineral blocks, and the removal of customs duties on most critical minerals in the 2024-25 Union Budget. It does not enumerate India's critical-minerals list, so no material scope is coded.

India's entry into this database, and the tranche's clearest instance of a single instrument combining exploration funding, overseas asset acquisition and stockpiling — a combination the other actors here split across separate measures. The stockpiling limb is what makes it directly comparable to Japan's and China's reserve provisions. Note the arithmetic discrepancy carried on the face of the source: the headline states an outlay of Rs.34,300 crore over seven years while the body states Rs.16,300 crore of expenditure plus Rs.18,000 crore of expected PSU investment; this record codes the body figures, which are the ones the government attributes to distinct actors.