The constant growth of the Indian economy
The surprising growth rates of the Indian economy are also driving the national mining sector, pushing it towards new levels of development and confirming New Delhi’s international status as one of the emerging “big players” in the sector. In recent weeks, India’s stock market capitalization has surpassed that of Hong Kong, encouraged by the reforms initiated by the government and medium and long-term growth prospects. In addition to boasting the fourth largest stock market in the world, the Indian economy is still one of the fastest growing globally. These performances are also partly due to the newfound vitality of the mining sector, which made several steps forward in its development stage during 2023.
The engine of this very rapid growth could be represented by the political-economic vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, centered on the concept of a self-reliant India and aware of its strength. These ideas also apply to the mining sector, and the Prime Minister himself reiterated this when he stated that self-reliance is impossible without a strong mining industry and that minerals and mining are important pillars of the Indian economy.
Indian interest in nickel, graphite, and lithium
In this sense, one of the most concrete actions was the start of auctions for strategic “critical” minerals, officially confirmed at the end of November 2023. These auctions include 20 blocks of minerals such as nickel, graphite, and lithium, all raw materials destined to play a key role in the green revolution, and which are among those most in demand due to their numerous industrial applications linked to clean energy. In the government’s intentions, these auctions and the resulting mineral extractions will be able to contribute to a large extent to achieve the objective of self-reliance in the strategic minerals sector, also giving new impetus to the national economy.
For India, 2023 was the year of acquiring new awareness in the mining sector, not only for the launch of the auctions, but for the fact that for the first time, the role of strategic minerals in the economic development of the country, but also for national security, was fully understood. The Indian will, as can be read in a recently published by the Ministry of Mines, consists of overcoming vulnerabilities and uncertainties that have always been associated with the supply chains of strategic minerals. Last year, the Indian government also amended a mineral-focused law dating back to 1957, introducing exploration licenses for minerals deemed “critical.”
In a certain sense, the greater attention dedicated to mining issues could also be linked to the energy objectives India has set for itself for the coming decades: one of these, certainly one of the most ambitious, has to do with the energy installed on Indian soil. By 2030, 50% of this energy capacity should depend on sources other than fossil fuels, and the connection between the spread of clean energy and strategic minerals is now well known. Some of these have a leading role in creating various green technologies, such as storage technologies, systems linked to wind or solar plants, electric vehicles, and their batteries.
