Govt’s critical mineral CAPEX support scheme to catalyse Rs 10,000 crore investment

New Delhi: The recently approved CAPEX Support Scheme to Promote Critical Mineral Processing will catalyse about Rs 10,000 crore in investment and support sectors such as electric mobility, battery storage, electronics, defence and speciality steel, an official factsheet said on Thursday. The scheme, approved with an outlay of Rs 2,814 crore, aims to establish domestic lithium and nickel processing capacity, reduce import dependence and strengthen India’s critical mineral value chain. It will run from FY27 to FY31 and provide a 30 per cent capital subsidy for setting up two lithium processing plants and two nickel processing plants. The maximum capital support will be capped at Rs 500 crore per lithium beneficiary and Rs 900 crore per nickel beneficiary, respectively. Beneficiaries will be chosen through a competitive two-stage process, with support released against project milestones. India’s requirements for refined intermediates and high-purity materials of key minerals are met largely through imports. Under the scheme, lithium plants will process ores and concentrates into battery-grade products, while nickel plants will produce Class-1 nickel or battery-grade nickel sulphate with cobalt recovery. The scheme is expected to support the creation of 60 kilotonnes of lithium processing capacity and 100 kilotonnes of nickel processing capacity, helping meet projected domestic demand by 2030. The scheme is expected to generate direct and indirect employment in critical mineral processing. Increased manufacturing of end-use products could create further employment opportunities. In the first stage to select beneficiaries, applications shall be assessed for technical qualification, and only technically qualified applicants shall be eligible to participate in the second stage of financial bidding. For each mineral, two beneficiaries shall be selected based on the least-cost criterion — the lowest CAPEX support sought by the bidders under the scheme. The incentives will be disbursed in three tranches linked to the achievement of specified milestones. —IANS aar/pk