Critical minerals race: India looks to UK, EU for supply chains

Critical minerals are minerals essential for economic development and national security, whose supply chains are vulnerable to disruption due to geographic concentration of extraction/processing (often in a small number of countries, notably China). India identified 30 critical minerals through a Ministry of Mines committee (constituted November 2022), with 24 of them added to Part D of Schedule I of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

The Mineral Security Partnership is a US-led plurilateral initiative (launched 2022) of like-minded countries to catalyse public and private investment in critical mineral supply chains outside China; India is a member. Separately, the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative Framework (Australia, India, Japan, US) was announced in May 2026 at the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi.

Key Details

• The Quad initiative aims to mobilise up to US$20 billion in public and private support for mining, processing, and recycling of critical minerals.
• India also signed a bilateral India-US Critical Minerals Agreement (CMA) in May 2026, alongside the Quad framework, formalising cooperation across the value chain.
• India has separately endorsed FORGE (Forum on Resource, Geostrategic Engagement), a broader ~55-country successor initiative to diversify beyond China-dependent supply chains.

A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is a binding treaty eliminating or reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers on goods/services trade between parties, distinct from non-binding MoUs or Joint Statements. India-GCC FTA negotiations were formally launched via a Joint Statement on 24 February 2026 (following Terms of Reference signed 5 February 2026); India-Israel FTA negotiations began with a first round held 23-26 February 2026 in New Delhi, with a second round concluding in July 2026.

Key Details

• The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) comprises Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman — a major source of India's energy imports and a growing trade partner.
• The India-GCC FTA framework covers trade in goods, customs procedures, services, digital trade, sanitary/phytosanitary measures, IPR, and MSME cooperation.
• Both negotiations follow India's template from the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed February 2022 and in force from 1 May 2022 — India's first trade agreement with a West Asian country. India eliminated duties immediately on over 80% of tariff lines (covering ~90% of exports by value), while the UAE eliminated duties on 97.4% of its tariff lines.
• GCC talks have faced delays linked to regional conflict in West Asia, consistent with the news that both GCC and Israel negotiations are "contingent on regional stability."

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), established under the BIS Act, 2016, is India's national standards body responsible for product certification (including mandatory certification under the Compulsory Registration Scheme for electronics/IT goods and Quality Control Orders for other sectors).

Key Details

• BIS operates under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• Mandatory BIS certification (ISI mark / Compulsory Registration Scheme) is often cited by industry as adding compliance time and cost for electronics and high-tech component manufacturers, especially those importing intermediate goods for further processing/export.
• Selective exemptions for high-tech manufacturing exporters are consistent with the government's broader Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and Make in India ease-of-doing-business push in electronics and semiconductor-adjacent manufacturing.