India Plans ₹7,350 Cr Boost for REPM Manufacturing

The government is nearing completion of a ₹7,350 crore plan to increase domestic production of sintered rare earth permanent magnets (REPMs) and reduce reliance on imports. This occurs months after China restricted REPM exports in April, limiting supplies to India's electronics and automotive sectors.

The project, which is probably going to be named the Scheme to Promote Sintered Rare Earth Permanent Magnet Manufacturing in India, intends to create a manufacturing ecosystem that is entirely domestic and capable of producing up to 6,000 tons per year. According to official papers, the program is anticipated to last for seven years.

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The objective is to create a domestic value chain that includes the transformation of neodymium-praseodymium oxide into sintered neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets. These are essential to industries including electronics, wind energy, cars, and defense. Mining, beneficiation, processing, extraction, refinement to rare earth oxide, conversion to metal and alloy, and magnet manufacturing are all steps in the production of REPM.

Facilities that can complete the last three steps, converting rare earth oxide to metal, metal to alloy, and alloy to magnet it will be encouraged by the proposed plan. India does not yet have the facilities or technology to handle these tasks.

The government would support the establishment of five integrated REPM manufacturing facilities under the plan, each capable of producing up to 1,200 tons annually. In increments of 100 tonnes annually, bidders may place bids for a minimum of 600 tonnes and a maximum of 1,200 tonnes annually.

Two types of financial assistance would be available to chosen companies: (a) a capital subsidy for the establishment of integrated NdFeB manufacturing facilities in India; and (b) a sales-linked incentive on the sale of sintered NdFeB magnets.