The Morning Brief India’s Rare Earth Reckoning
Jun 13, 2025
Ankit Somani, Co-founder of Conifer, specializes in developing powertrains utilizing ferrite magnets. Hemal Thakkar, Senior Practice Leader at Crisil Intelligence, provides insights into the economic implications of rare earths. They discuss India's struggle amidst rare earth shortages impacting the auto sector, largely due to China's dominance in exports. The conversation covers the urgent need for alternative sourcing strategies and the potential of innovative technologies to overcome production challenges while exploring India's future in electric mobility.
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China Dominates Rare Earth Supply
- Rare earth metals power critical modern and clean energy tech, with India holding the fifth largest reserves globally.
- Yet, China strongly controls global rare earth production and refining, limiting India’s ability to capitalize on its reserves.
China’s Export Licensing Controls
- China’s new non-automatic export licensing restricts rare earth elements, complicating imports for countries like India.
- This creates supply bottlenecks and slows critical imports for various sectors including EV manufacturing.
EV Manufacturing Faces Shortage
- India’s electric vehicle production faces imminent strain due to rare earth magnet shortages from China.
- Two-wheeler EVs may cope briefly, but production disruption is likely by end of June without fresh imports.