Key Insights | India, Africa and Critical Minerals: Towards a Green Energy Partnership

Based on new evidence, this paper offers policy recommendations for an Indian critical minerals strategy in Africa. It aims to explain why, where, and how India can build strategic collaborations with mineral-rich countries in the region. In a geopolitically charged and rapidly evolving critical minerals landscape, it identifies African priorities, highlights Indian interests, and finds synergies, presented as nine policy pathways.

India’s ambitious plans to transition to a sustainable and resilient energy future rely on its access to critical minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, and cobalt (Ministry of Mines [MoM], 2023). The country’s demand for critical minerals is projected to rise exponentially, almost fourfold by 2030. Although its domestic reserves, including 5.9 million tonnes of lithium ore, could help meet some of the demand, converting them into mineable resources will take time and will still fall short of achieving self-sufficiency (Press Information Bureau [PIB], 2023). This presents New Delhi with two paths to tread simultaneously: one, to adopt policy reforms in the mining sector to boost exploration and mining domestically; the other, to engage proactively with mineral-rich geographies overseas—including Australia and countries in Africa and Latin America—to create secure supply chains.

This paper focuses on the latter. The National Critical Minerals Mission (NCMM), announced in January 2025, underscores the importance of acquiring critical mineral assets abroad (MoM, 2025). The mission outlines the instruments it can utilize in this pursuit, the resources allocated towards this effort and emphasizes India’s comparative advantages. This includes deploying the Geological Survey of India for mapping services, extending inter-ministerial support to public and private companies through an empowered committee that provides subsidies for mining and the development of evacuation infrastructure, among other initiatives.