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Change in Indian industrial index expands monitoring of rare earths and reinforces attention on critical minerals used in electric cars, semiconductors, wind turbines, defense, and artificial intelligence.
India has officially included rare earths in the new series of the Industrial Production Index, in a change announced on June 1, 2026, by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation in New Delhi.
With the revision, the base year of the indicator changed from 2011–2012 to 2022–2023, and the basket monitored by the government was expanded to reflect segments more present in the current industrial structure of the country.
The decision inserts rare earth elements into one of the main indicators used by Indian authorities to measure industrial production performance and monitor changes in economic activity.
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In practice, the country begins to observe in more detail a sector linked to electric vehicles, wind turbines, semiconductors, defense systems, satellites, electronic equipment, and infrastructure associated with artificial intelligence.
This movement occurs during the global dispute for critical minerals, an area where China concentrates a significant part of the refining, separation, and processing stages.
According to the International Energy Agency, geographical concentration has advanced in recent years, and China accounted for a significant portion of the growth in refined supply of graphite, cobalt, and rare earths between 2020 and 2024.
Why India changed the industrial index
The new series of the Industrial Production Index was presented by the Indian government as a way to make the indicator more compatible with the current composition of the country’s economy.
According to the Ministry of Statistics, the revision incorporates an updated basket of products, new sectoral weights, and greater coverage of industrial activities, following the recommendation of a technical committee.
In addition to rare earths, the update now observes segments such as gas supply, water supply, sanitation, waste management, and industrial activities related to more recent technological chains.
Already under the new base, the index recorded growth of 4.9% in April 2026, compared to April 2025, according to data released by the Indian government.
The change does not, by itself, alter India’s rare earth refining capacity, but creates a more detailed statistical base to monitor the evolution of this segment.
In industrial economies, indicators of this type are used by governments to identify bottlenecks, measure production, evaluate public policies, and guide investments in sectors considered relevant by the authorities.
Rare earths enter the center of industrial policy
Rare earths form a group of 17 chemical elements used in high-value-added technologies, with applications in transportation, energy, electronics, defense, and industrial equipment.
Among these elements are neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, used in high-performance permanent magnets found in electric motors, wind turbines, medical equipment, aerospace systems, and military technologies.
The economic relevance of these elements has grown with the electrification of transportation, the expansion of renewable energies, and the demand for components used in electronic equipment and high-tech systems.
According to the International Energy Agency, a typical electric car requires about six times more mineral inputs than a conventional vehicle, while an onshore wind power plant demands much more minerals than a gas plant of the same capacity.
In 2024, the demand for energy-related minerals increased by 6% to 8% for nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earths, according to the IEA.
The agency attributes this growth mainly to applications in electric vehicles, batteries, power grids, and renewable sources, sectors that depend on stable and diversified industrial chains.
In the Indian case, the challenge involves not only the availability of deposits but also the transformation of geological resources into products used by the industry.
Processes such as separation, refining, alloy manufacturing, magnetic powder production, and magnet acquisition require chemical mastery, industrial scale, environmental control, and integration with manufacturers of vehicles, electronics, energy, and defense.
Indian reserves and processing bottlenecks
India has significant rare earth resources, mainly associated with monazite present in coastal sands and deposits located inland.
In response to Parliament, the Department of Atomic Energy reported on March 12, 2026, that the country holds the third-largest volume of rare earth resources in the world, based on USGS data.
The same statement indicates about 7.23 million tons equivalent of rare earth oxides contained in 13.15 million tons of monazite.
The occurrences are distributed across areas of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and other regions, as well as deposits in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand.
Despite the volume of resources, the Indian government reported that a large part of these reserves has low grade and is associated with radioactivity, which makes extraction more time-consuming and technically complex.
In the same official response, the authorities stated that India has capabilities in mining, separation, refining up to oxides, and metal extraction, but still lacks sufficient intermediate and advanced scale for alloys and magnets.
This scenario helps explain the inclusion of rare earths in a broader industrial statistical base aimed at monitoring activities considered relevant by the Indian government.
With more detailed data, New Delhi seeks to align mineral policy with programs focused on semiconductors, electronics, batteries, electric vehicles, aerospace industry, and defense equipment.
Brazil, China, and BRICS in the critical minerals board
The Indian decision is also related to the position of other BRICS countries in the critical minerals and rare earths sector.
China leads the global processing chain, while Brazil appears in the United States Geological Survey as the holder of the second largest estimated reserve of rare earths, with 21 million tons in equivalent oxides.
In the same survey, the USGS points to China with 44 million tons in reserves and India with 6.9 million tons, in addition to an estimated Chinese mineral production of 270 thousand tons in 2024.
Brazil, although having great geological potential according to the survey, appears with an estimated production of only 20 tons in the same year.
The difference between reserves and production indicates that mineral availability does not automatically result in significant participation in the rare earths industrial chain.
To expand this participation, countries with large deposits need to develop mining, separation, refining, chemical transformation, and component manufacturing, stages that concentrate greater added value within the production chain.
In Brazil, the rare earths agenda gained space due to the mapped reserves and the possibility of connection with clean energy, defense, electronics, and electric mobility chains.
Meanwhile, India has directed public policies to reduce external dependence and expand domestic capabilities in stages that remain concentrated among a few global suppliers.
Billion-dollar program targets permanent magnets
The Indian strategy also advanced beyond the statistical field, with measures aimed at producing components used by technology, energy, defense, and transportation industries.
On November 26, 2025, the government approved a program of 72.8 billion rupees, equivalent to about US$ 816 million, to stimulate domestic manufacturing of rare earth permanent magnets.
According to Reuters, India imported 53,748 metric tons of rare earth magnets in the fiscal year ending in March 2025, while domestic demand is expected to double by 2030.
The plan provides support for new factories with a total capacity of 6,000 tons per year, distributed among five companies selected through competition.
The inclusion of rare earths in the Industrial Production Index occurs alongside programs aimed at the production of magnets, semiconductors, batteries, electronics, and industrial components.
With these measures, the Indian government seeks to transform mineral resources into a productive base, reduce import vulnerabilities, and expand its presence in technological chains dependent on critical inputs.
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