This transition is not merely technological but also structural. Electrification of mobility is central to reducing fossil fuel consumption, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and improving energy efficiency. It also generates broader social benefits: lower operating and maintenance costs, reduced noise, improved urban air quality, and better public health outcomes.

At the core of this transformation lie rare-earth permanent magnets — critical materials that enable the performance, compactness, and efficiency of modern electric systems.

Dependent On Imports

Despite their importance, India remains heavily dependent on imports — primarily from China — for rare-earth magnets and processed materials. Supply chain vulnerabilities stem from geopolitical tensions, export restrictions, and price volatility.

Moreover, India’s reserves are skewed towards light rare earths, while heavy rare earth elements remain scarce. As demand surges from defence, electric mobility, renewable energy, electronics, and robotics sectors, competition for limited supplies intensifies.

Classification Of Rare Earths

Rare earth elements, also referred to as lanthanides, are classified into Light (LREE), Medium (MREE), and Heavy (HREE) categories based on their atomic number and ionic radius. However, these elements are chemically very similar and difficult to separate, but they have distinct strategic implications. Light rare earths, such as lanthanum and cerium, generally have lower strategic value and constitute the bulk of available material.

Medium rare earth elements — including neodymium, praseodymium, gadolinium, samarium, and holmium — have high intrinsic value due to their critical role in magnet production. Samarium–cobalt magnets, in particular, are widely used because of their high thermal stability.

Heavy rare-earth elements, particularly dysprosium and terbium, are essential for manufacturing high-grade magnets used in high-speed motors, drones, defence systems, and other advanced technologies.

Tiered Approach

While rare earths and critical minerals are transformative across industries, India does not have the luxury of deploying them indiscriminately. Scarcity of materials and gaps in advanced processing capabilities demand strategic discipline. A clear, tiered prioritisation framework is therefore imperative for economic growth, energy transition, and climate commitments.

Defence must receive first call on these resources, given their direct bearing on national security. Electrified mobility should follow closely, as it is central to the overall strategy. Achieving this balance will require coordinated decision-making across ministries to ensure optimal allocation, prevent distortions, and align resource use with national priorities.

Road Mobility, Railways

Electrification is rapidly redefining mobility across virtually every segment of transport. In road transport, the shift encompasses two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger cars, buses, light and heavy commercial vehicles, and mining equipment.

Beyond traction motors, rare-earth magnets are embedded in numerous auxiliary systems, including steering mechanisms, window motors, windscreen wipers, onboard generators, acoustic systems, and voltage-regulation devices. The cumulative effect is transportation that is cleaner, more efficient, and more affordable over its lifecycle.

Railways and metro systems represent another significant frontier. Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors (PMSMs), increasingly preferred over conventional induction motors, offer higher efficiency and lower energy consumption.

Their lighter weight reduces operational costs and contributes to sustainable rail transport. As India modernises its freight corridors and metro networks, rare earth-enabled propulsion will play an increasingly important role.

Maritime, Inland Waterways

Maritime and inland waterways are an important yet often overlooked frontier of electrification. Under Sagarmala and Inland Waterways initiatives, India is promoting green ports, coastal shipping, and river transport. Electric and hybrid vessels — ferries, tugs, and cargo boats — require compact, high-torque propulsion enabled by NdFeB and SmCo magnets.

Electrified port equipment and logistics systems also depend on them, making maritime electrification a key lever for reducing emissions in trade and logistics.

National Critical Mineral Mission

Recognising these risks, the Union government launched strategic initiatives, such as the National Critical Minerals Mission (NCMM), to accelerate exploration, strengthen domestic processing, secure overseas mineral assets, and promote recycling.

Complementary measures include the sintered rare-earth permanent magnet scheme to build domestic manufacturing capacity and the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes to support electric vehicles and advanced manufacturing ecosystems.

Dual-Track Strategy

Long-term resilience demands a calibrated dual-track approach. Firstly, India must rapidly scale up LREE-based magnet production to meet the growing needs of civilian mobility and industrial electrification.

Secondly, it must secure assured access to HREEs — where domestic availability is limited but which are critical for defence and high-performance technologies — through strategic partnerships, overseas asset acquisitions, and strengthened domestic processing capabilities. As global competition for rare earths intensifies, resource-rich countries such as Myanmar, Kazakhstan, Chile, Peru, Mongolia, and Russia assume strategic importance.

Sustained diplomatic, commercial, and technological engagement with these nations will be vital to ensuring supply security, enhancing self-reliance, and safeguarding national interests. Parallelly, India must establish integrated processing clusters, strengthen research ecosystems, and invest in materials science to build indigenous technological capability.

Circular Economy

A circular economy approach can provide additional stability. Products should be designed for easy disassembly and magnet recovery, while recycling of e-waste and end-of-life vehicles must become central to national strategy. Urban mining should move from the margins to the mainstream of policy thinking.

Rare earth permanent magnets are not merely industrial inputs; they are strategic enablers of India’s decarbonisation, technological progress, and economic resilience. The greening of mobility — across roads, railways, ports, waterways, mining, and aviation — ultimately depends on secure and diversified rare-earth supply chains.

By integrating exploration, processing, manufacturing, prioritisation, and circular-economy principles within a coherent policy framework, India can reduce vulnerability, strengthen self-reliance, and emerge as a credible global player in the rare-earth ecosystem.

The success of the green mobility transition ultimately rests on how strategically a nation secures and governs its rare earth resources.

(The writer is a former Ambassador. He is also an economist and the author of Energy Security and Economic Development in India: A Holistic Approach, published by TERI. Views are personal.)