How India is losing the rare earth race to China

FOR YEARS, CHINA EXPANDED ITS BATTERY AND RARE EARTH PRODUCTION TO DOMINATE THE GLOBAL MARKET

- Charles Assisi

Every once in a while, headlines strike of India striking gold. Just that it's not gold—but lithium, or some other rare earth element that holds the potential to change the country's future. The script is now predictable. A government agency makes an announcement. Experts rush in to explain how this could be a game-changer. Stocks of battery companies rise. Politicians talk about self-reliance and reducing dependence on China. And then, the story fades, people forget, and India continues importing the very same materials, mostly from China, because the reality is far more complicated than the headline.

The discovery of lithium reserves in Jammu & Kashmir was supposed to be a turning point. The initial announcement—5.9 million tonnes of lithium—made it seem like India had hit the jackpot. No more dependence on China. No more importing battery materials. It meant a new era for India's electric vehicle (EV) and battery industry.

But here we are, more than a year later, and the lithium story has gone nowhere.