Critical Minerals and Supply Chain Resilience
Indian Economy
- PYQs3
- Articles1
Background
Critical minerals and supply chain resilience are crucial for India's economic security, energy transition, technological advancement, and strategic autonomy. UPSC examines India's strategies to secure these resources and build resilient supply networks.
Critical minerals are essential for modern technologies, renewable energy, and defence industries, but their supply chains are often concentrated and vulnerable to geopolitical risks. Supply Chain Resilience refers to the ability of a supply chain to withstand and recover from disruptions, ensuring continuous availability of essential goods and materials.
Facts & tables
- Strategic Importance
- Critical minerals (e.g., rare earths, lithium, cobalt) are vital for emerging technologies like EVs, semiconductors, and clean energy, making their secure supply a national priority.
- Supply Chain Vulnerabilities
- Global supply chains for many critical minerals are dominated by a few countries, leading to potential market distortions and geopolitical leverage.
- India-Australia Cooperation
- Australia is a major source of critical minerals, and cooperation with India aims to secure supplies for India's renewable energy and manufacturing sectors.
- Multilateral Initiatives
- India is part of initiatives like the India-Japan-Australia Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) to diversify sources and reduce dependence on single suppliers for critical goods.
| Type | Reference |
|---|---|
| Conceptual area | Indian Economy |
| Conceptual area | International Relations |
| Body | Role |
|---|---|
| Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) | Promotes diversified supply chains |
Prelims angle
Prelims angle: Statement-based questions
Prelims angle: Factual recall
- Essential for EVs, semiconductors, clean energy
- Concentrated supply chains, geopolitical risks
- India-Australia cooperation for critical minerals
- SCRI (India-Japan-Australia) for diversification
- Ensures economic security & energy transition
| Year | Framing tags |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Statement-based questions, Factual recall |
| 2019 | Factual recall |
| 2019 | Factual recall, Conceptual understanding |
Timeline
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Indian Economy
Conceptual area
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International Relations
Conceptual area
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Prelims 2019
Factual recall
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Prelims 2019
Factual recall, Conceptual understanding
-
Prelims 2025
Statement-based questions, Factual recall
-
Beyond three Cs, the new lexicon of India-Australia ties
Critical minerals are vital for modern industries, but their concentrated supply chains pose risks. India is actively pursuing bilateral (e.g., with Australia) and multilateral (e.g., SCRI) strategies to secure critical mineral supplies and enhance supply chain resilience.
See also
Past papers
2019–2025 · 3 questions
In the news
Beyond three Cs, the new lexicon of India-Australia ties
Critical minerals are vital for modern industries, but their concentrated supply chains pose risks. India is actively pursuing bilateral (e.g., with Australia) and multilateral (e.g., SCRI) strategies to secure critical mineral supplies and enhance supply chain resilience.
Try these PYQs
Consider the following statements:
I. India has joined the Minerals Security Partnership as a member.
II. India is a resource-rich country in all the 30 critical minerals that it has identified.
III. The Parliament in 2023 has amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 empowering the Central Government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite license for certain critical minerals.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Critical minerals are essential for modern technologies and clean energy, but many countries, including India, depend on imports for several of them. To strengthen supply chains, India has joined international partnerships and reformed mining laws. ✅ Statement I: Correct India joined the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) in 2023 to ensure reliable access to critical minerals. ❌ Statement II: Incorrect India is not resource-rich in all 30 critical minerals it has identified and remains import-dependent for several, like cobalt and nickel. ✅ Statement III: Correct In 2023, Parliament amended the Mines and Minerals Act, giving the Central Government power to auction leases for critical minerals.
Among the following, which one is the largest exporter of rice in the world in the last five years?
India overtook Thailand as the world's largest riceexporter in 2015, since then India is held its position while China is the largest producer of rice. Below are the few countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of rice in 2018.
1) India US$7.4 billion (30.1% of total rice exports)
2) Thailand $5.6 billion (22.7%)
3) Vietnam $2.2 billion (9%)
Among the agricultural commodities imported by India, which one of the following accounts for the highest imports in terms of value in the last five years?
* The country's vegetable oil imports for the first six months of the oil year during November 2018 to April 2019 stood at 75,41,689 tonne, up about 3% from 73,18,295 tonne reported in the same period last year. * Vegetable oils account for the highest import in terms of value in the last five years. India relies on imports for 70 percent of its edible oil consumption.