India just placed a serious bet on its own mineral future. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Capex Support Scheme to Promote Critical Mineral Processing — a ₹2,814 crore initiative running across five years from FY 2026–27 to 2030–31 — signalling New Delhi's intent to stop outsourcing the processing of the minerals that power electric vehicles, clean energy infrastructure and next-generation electronics.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, announcing the decision on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, framed the scheme as a cornerstone of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision, posting in both English and Kannada: 'ಈ ಐತಿಹಾಸಿಕ ಯೋಜನೆ' ('this landmark initiative') will 'strengthen India's critical mineral ecosystem, promote domestic processing capabilities.'

Why India's mineral processing gap matters now

Critical minerals — think lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earths — are the raw material of the energy transition. Without the ability to refine and process them domestically, even a country sitting on mineral deposits remains dependent on foreign supply chains. That dependency carries real strategic risk: a single chokepoint can stall an entire EV or solar supply chain overnight.

India has been acutely aware of the gap. In 2023, Parliament amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act to carve out critical and strategic minerals into a dedicated Part D, unlocking faster auctions and exploration. The state-backed entity KABIL has simultaneously pursued overseas mineral asset acquisitions. The Capex Support Scheme is the next logical move — using capital expenditure incentives to build the actual refining muscle onshore.

The ₹2,814 crore logic: Capex over PLI

The choice of a capital expenditure support model — rather than a production-linked incentive — is deliberate. Processing facilities for critical minerals require enormous upfront investment in specialised plants and equipment; the returns take years to materialise. A Capex subsidy de-risks that upfront commitment for private players, lowering the barrier for mining companies, battery manufacturers and electronics firms to co-invest in domestic refining infrastructure.

The design echoes the architecture of earlier schemes in semiconductors, solar photovoltaic manufacturing and advanced chemistry cells — a pattern of using public capital to crowd in private investment in sectors where import dependence had become a vulnerability. The critical minerals scheme now extends that playbook to the upstream segment of the clean-energy supply chain.

Who stands to gain — and what comes next

The immediate beneficiaries will be mining companies looking to move up the value chain, EV and battery manufacturers who need reliable domestic material supply, and renewable energy and electronics industries that currently import processed mineral inputs. Detailed scheme guidelines, project selection criteria and the first tranche of project approvals are expected after the FY 2026–27 Union Budget.

The scheme's five-year window — ending in FY 2030–31 — is calibrated to India's own clean-energy and EV growth trajectory, a period when domestic demand for processed critical minerals is projected to surge sharply. If the processing infrastructure gets built on time, India could shift from being a buyer of refined minerals to a credible supplier within the region.

India's mineral supply chain has long been its clean-energy Achilles heel. With ₹2,814 crore and a five-year clock, New Delhi is now racing to fix it before the demand wave arrives.