(Reuters) -India is considering setting up a strategic reserve of critical minerals for emergency use in defence manufacturing, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing a defence official.
The reserve of critical minerals and metals would be used to “tide over immediate requirement” when needed, the report added, citing Rajesh Kumar Singh, a top Ministry of Defence official who was speaking at a media event in New Delhi.
The Indian defence secretary’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
India has been quietly tapping rare-earth mines in Myanmar to diversify its supply chain away from China, in an unusual engagement with the Kachin Independence Army, Reuters reported this month.
Beijing has sharply restricted exports of processed rare earths to major economies like India this year as it builds geopolitical leverage in a trade war with the United States.
India does have reasonable stocks of critical minerals by all accounts which it should be able to better utilise in the future, Singh said, according to the report.
(Reporting by Abu Sultan in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Kirsten Donovan)
