As the global race for rare earth elements (REEs) intensifies, India is deepening its engagement with Africa to secure a more diversified and resilient supply chain. This strategic shift is part of New Delhi’s broader efforts to reduce reliance on China, which currently dominates over 90% of global REE production, refining, and exports—a control that has raised geopolitical alarm bells, especially in the wake of recent Chinese export restrictions on rare-earth magnets.
India’s pivot toward Africa is not incidental. With vast, underexplored reserves of critical minerals, the continent has become a focal point for countries looking to secure materials essential for electric vehicles, wind turbines, advanced electronics, military technologies, and clean energy systems. In response, India has signed cooperation agreements with key African nations, including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea. These partnerships are part of a growing global scramble to realign supply chains around minerals that are foundational to the 21st-century economy.
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Africa’s Growing Strategic Weight in the REE Race
Africa has become a geopolitical hotspot in the critical minerals race, thanks to its vast but underexploited reserves of rare earth elements. These 17 elements—such as neodymium, dysprosium, and lanthanum—are indispensable in the manufacture of clean energy technologies, electric vehicles, smartphones, advanced defence systems, and medical equipment. Their strategic importance has grown exponentially in the context of global decarbonisation, and Africa’s mineral-rich terrain has attracted global powers including China, the U.S., the EU, and now, increasingly, India.
India has already entered into cooperation agreements with several African countries, including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Côte d’Ivoire, and others. These bilateral agreements are designed to promote collaborative research, development, and innovation in mining, with a specific emphasis on REEs and other critical minerals. India’s Minister of State for Atomic Energy, Jitendra Singh, emphasised that these partnerships aim to build an “overarching framework” for cooperation, going beyond extraction to include knowledge exchange, infrastructure, and industrial development.
India’s Multi-Pronged Strategy
India’s approach to REEs combines domestic capacity-building with international partnerships. Domestically, it is investing in refining, processing, and magnet manufacturing through entities like Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), which has inaugurated a Rare Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) plant in Visakhapatnam. This facility uses indigenous technology to produce samarium-cobalt magnets, supporting India’s goal of self-sufficiency in strategic sectors like renewable energy and defence.
At the policy level, India has launched a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to promote the recycling of critical minerals and has amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act to streamline the exploration and mining of REEs. Internationally, the creation of Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL)—a joint venture aimed at acquiring overseas critical mineral assets—and India’s inclusion in the U.S.-led Mineral Security Partnership (MSP) highlight its rising profile in global resource diplomacy.
Africa plays a central role in this strategy. Unlike historical extractive models that saw African minerals exported with little local value addition, India’s model emphasises co-development. It includes support for local processing, job creation, and knowledge transfer—resonating with the aspirations of many African governments to build resilient, diversified economies rooted in industrial growth.
Challenging China’s Dominance
China’s grip on the REE market remains formidable. According to the 2024 Statistical Review of World Energy, China holds 38% of global REE reserves and was responsible for 240 kilotons of REE production in 2023—two-thirds of the global total. It dominates REE exports and supplies over 80% of India’s imports, underscoring India’s vulnerability to geopolitical tensions. Past incidents—such as China’s 2010 export restrictions to Japan—demonstrate how these minerals can become instruments of geopolitical leverage.
India’s African engagements aim to mitigate these risks by creating alternative, politically stable supply chains. This diversification effort is both urgent and strategic, as global REE demand—estimated at 93 kilotons in 2024—is projected to more than double by 2050, with clean technologies accounting for up to 39% of usage.
A Broader Geopolitical Contest
India is not alone in recognising Africa’s mineral potential. The continent is at the centre of a broader geopolitical competition involving the U.S., EU, China, and now India. What sets India apart is its positioning as a democratic, non-aligned partner that combines development cooperation with strategic investment. Its initiatives are often backed by concessional financing, political goodwill, and a focus on long-term capacity building.
If India’s approach succeeds, it could offer African nations a more equitable development model—one that ensures not just mineral extraction but industrial growth, technology transfer, and economic diversification. It also opens new possibilities for South-South cooperation, where emerging economies collaborate on shared challenges of energy transition, digital innovation, and sustainable development.
Conclusion: Africa at the Nexus of Global Transition
Africa’s prominence in the global REE supply chain is rising not only because of its mineral wealth, but because of its growing agency in global resource governance. India’s deepening engagement with the continent—rooted in mutual respect, economic pragmatism, and strategic foresight—reflects this new reality.
As the world moves towards decarbonisation and digitalisation, rare earth elements will be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th. In this context, Africa’s role will be pivotal, and India’s partnerships could mark the beginning of a more balanced and multipolar global resource order—one built not on extraction alone, but on shared prosperity and resilience.
