India’s major mineral imports – mostly non-critical rose 80% over five years to ₹68,633 crore in FY24. 

• Imports, however, dipped 2% on a Year-over-year (YOY) basis from ₹70,125 crore. Imports stood at ₹38,604 crore in FY19.
  • Year-over-year (YOY) is a financial term used to compare data for a specific period of time with the corresponding period from the previous year.

Data on Major Mineral Imports Of India

These major minerals include copper ore concentrates, phosphorite, manganese ore, limestone, iron ore, bauxite, asbestos, sulphur, magnesite, and fluorspar, among others. These ten minerals account for 97% of the import of mineral minerals

• Import Data in Terms on Volume: India’s imports of these ten major minerals increased 9% over a 5% period to 619.42 lakh tonnes from 570.34 lakh tonnes and 17% y-o-y from 528.25 lakh tonnes.
  • In terms of volume, limestone imports were the highest at 338.09 lakh tonnes – 55% of the total, followed by phosphorite at 55.98 lakh tonnes – 14%.
• Highest Contribution: Copper ore concentrate imports continue to be the highest, accounting for ₹25,951 crore – or nearly 40% of the total import of major minerals in FY24. 
  • • Imports more than doubled in five years, from ₹12,146 crore.
  • This was followed by phosphorite, ₹12,649 crore – or nearly 20% of the total. 
    • Imports also doubled in five years from ₹5,625 crore
  • Manganese ore, limestone and bauxite were the other three big imports at ₹7,760 crore, ₹6,616 crore and ₹4,397 crore, respectively. 
  • Iron ore imports have, however, decreased, while manganese ore and bauxite shipments increased 60–80% between FY19 and FY24.
• Import of Critical Minerals: Critical mineral import in 24 categories – apart from lithium-ion and copper – for FY24 was ₹35000 crore, and in volume terms was 82,260 tonnes.
  • Import Data: Rock phosphate imports were the highest in value at over ₹12,600 crore, followed by nickel ore at ₹6,557 crore -odd. Lithium-bearing mineral imports were close to ₹9,00 crore. (Lithium-ion imports are reported separately).
  • Reserves and Significance: Globally the reserves of Critical minerals are mainly concentrated in Australia, Argentina, China, Chile, Canada, Congo, Mozambique, South Africa etc.
    • These critical minerals, most have negligible reserves in India, include beryl and beryllium, cadmium, cobalt, gallium, glauconite, graphite, indium, lithium (bearing minerals), molybdenum, nickel ore, rock phosphate, platinum group of minerals, potash, rare earth elements, rhenium, selenium, tantalum, titanium, tin, tungsten, vanadium and zirconium.
    • These critical minerals remain critical to India’s green transition, with lithium being the key element finding usage in energy storage solutions.

Enroll now for UPSC Online Course

DOWNLOAD PDF