Govt working on steps to improve supply of rare earth minerals: Piyush Goyal

The government is working on measures to improve supply of rare earth minerals including negotiating trade pacts with Chile and Peru promoting domestic exploration and engaging startups in recycling and processing Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on FridayCritical or rare earth minerals such as copper lithium nickel and cobalt are essential raw materials which have applications in various industries ranging from electronic goods to fighter jetsThese minerals also fuel the growth of rapidly growing clean energy technologies including electric vehicles and battery manufacturing Countries like Chile Peru and Australia have reserves of these mineralsIndia already has implemented a trade pact with Australia and is negotiating with South American nations Chile and Peru The Indian team is visiting the two South American countries for the next round of trade talksLook at Chile and Peru think about it Why am I doing FTA with them in the first place It gives you the answer he said when asked about steps the government is taking to deal with the shortage of these mineralsChina the major player of these minerals has imposed restrictions on the supply which is disrupting the supply chains worldwideIn our country we are looking at increasing explorations and I have been talking to startups engaged in this area both for recycling of the waste from which we can extract rare earths and we are also in dialogue with startups to see if we can create the processing facility in India which is currently concentrated in one geography Goyal saidThe minister also suggested that the industry diversify their supply chains as dependency on one country for the import of any product will create problemsWe must assess all our respective supply chains see whether they are overly dependent on any particular geography he said adding if it is dependent on one country you are prone to vulnerability particularly in a world where trade is being used as a weaponWe have seen weaponisation of trade and supply chains Make your supply chains robust wherever possible be selfsufficient and selfreliant Make sure we have a sufficient number of options so that we are not vulnerable he addedHe also said that the government is formulating guidelines for the newly announced Rs 10000 crore Fund of Funds Scheme FFS for startups unveiled in the BudgetIt is focusing on manufacturing and hightechnology sectors which require longerterm fundingFurther Goyal criticised the previous Congress governments for not properly negotiating free trade agreements with ASEAN Japan and Korea and now they are not benefiting the domestic industrySpeaking at an Assocham event Goyal said that while these countries can increase their exports to India domestic exporters are finding it difficult to enter their marketsWe face difficulty when we export he said adding that only imports have grown from these countriesOn the other hand he said the FTAs concluded by the NDA government are helping increase Indias exports This government has implemented such pacts with the UAE Mauritius the EFTA bloc and AustraliaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever