This paper focuses on the latter. The National Critical Minerals Mission (NCMM), announced in January 2025, underscores the importance of acquiring critical mineral assets abroad (MoM, 2025). The mission outlines the instruments it can utilise in this pursuit, the resources allocated towards this effort and emphasises India’s comparative advantages. This includes deploying the Geological Survey of India for mapping services, extending inter-ministerial support to public and private companies through an empowered committee that provides subsidies for mining and the development of evacuation infrastructure, among other initiatives.

The NCMM also underscores the need to increase trade and investments with resource-rich countries, enter into critical mineral partnership agreements, or incorporate chapters on critical minerals in existing bilateral and Free Trade Agreements. However, the document stops short of explaining how this can be accomplished in specific geographies. This paper strives to provide a tailored strategy for Africa.

A historically familiar geography for Indian enterprise due to its proximity, untapped markets, and similar socio-economic contexts, African countries have seen Indian businesses expand their presence and strengthen commercial ties even during periods of political passivity. Today, New Delhi is among the five leading investors in the continent, with cumulative investments exceeding $75 billion (CII, 2024). India has deep commercial networks in the region, bolstered by a three million-strong diaspora. While bilateral trade amounts to almost $100 billion in 2022–23, India’s Duty-Free Tariff Preference scheme provides non-reciprocal duty-free market access to 27 African nations (PIB, 2023).

Indian government officials have reaffirmed support for the Ezulwini Consensus—an African Common Position on United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reform—at multiple global forums, enhanced diplomatic engagement through frequent high-level visits, and opened 16 new missions, raising the total to 46. As a result, the region is emerging as a foreign policy priority. What distinguishes India’s engagement is its multifaceted approach to partnering in the region’s development. New Delhi has completed 206 projects in 43 African countries, extended concessional loans of over $12.3 billion, and grant assistance of $700 million, with a focus on capacity building from as early as 1949 (Jaishankar, 2022; Jaishankar, 2024).

The rationale for critical mineral cooperation between India and countries in Africa is, therefore, a natural progression of an ongoing relationship and is grounded in two key factors. First, the continent’s mineral abundance and the centrality of the mining sector to its pursuit of development. Housing over 30% of the world’s known critical mineral reserves, mining accounts for about 10% of government revenue across the 15 most mineral-rich countries in Africa (Albertin et al., 2021).

Second, India’s energy partnerships with the region encompass collaboration across both non-renewable and renewable energy sectors. Since 2001, total trade in the mining and mineral sectors between India and Africa stands at $43 billion (Confederation of Indian Industry, 2023). While 15% of its oil demand is met by imports from the region (Confederation of Indian Industry, 2022), over 30 member States of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) are from Africa.

A recent announcement that the Indian government is looking to acquire critical mineral assets in Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique and has secured 9,000 square kilometres of greenfield land in Zambia for the exploration of copper and cobalt, brings in a new dimension to its resource diplomacy in the region (Walia, 2025).

This paper takes a novel approach and employs a comprehensive methodology—including in-depth interviews and closed-door consultations with policymakers and industry experts, observation of discussions between civil society representatives and mining-affected communities, as well as online and in-person workshops and symposiums with academics and researchers from around the world, alongside an extensive literature survey—to find alignments between African priorities and Indian interests.

These priorities have been articulated in the Draft Africa Green Minerals Strategy produced by the African Union (AU), in national mining vision statements, and in speeches by heads of state and senior policymakers across the region. Beyond multilateral organisations and governments, subnational and non-state actors—including civil society groups, think-tanks, and communities living near mining sites—have also identified context-specific priorities. These diverse insights were triangulated and placed within two dynamic realities: rapidly evolving governance frameworks across African countries and a geopolitically competitive landscape.

While acknowledging the need for further granular and country-specific case studies, this research identifies nine African priorities. While national considerations may differ, those listed below are relevant across much of the continent:

· Increase downstream value addition.

· Build capacity and upskill the mining workforce.

· Mainstream responsible mining practices.

· Address knowledge and information asymmetry.

· Utilise technology solutions across the mining value chain.

· Develop mining-adjacent infrastructure.

· Create regional industrial networks.

· Forge international collaborations.

· Diversify energy partnerships.

The paper offers a framework to align these African priorities with Indian interests. It outlines nine policy pathways across two-time frames: short-term and medium- to long-term. This temporal roadmap will help policymakers compare and execute policy options.

The recommendations emerging from this exercise are briefly outlined below. In the short term, the Government of India could consider the following steps:

· Establish a task force composed of the existing Inter-Ministerial Group on Critical Minerals, industry experts, and scholars to draft a white paper. This document can explore at what stage large-, medium- and small-sized Indian companies can enter the mining value chain in different African countries, how they can navigate competitive landscapes, and offer ideas to offset risks.

· Undertake a skills needs analysis and pivot current training programmes under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) to include operational and management courses in the mining sector, integrating theoretical training with practical hands-on experience and exposure to Indian Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and industry. Select and promote high-value skills—medical, legal, financial, technology, and management leadership—among persons from mining-affected areas by creating clauses that make service in home regions a part of the programme.

· Build sustainability and responsible mining guardrails into projects in African countries and continue to inform the host African governments of the genuine gains realised. This would entail supporting and incentivising Indian companies, maintaining strong regulatory scrutiny, and acting on any proven instances of malpractice. Laws for Indian companies acting abroad must be on par with national thresholds.

· Creating robust and credible India–Africa research frameworks can help identify gaps, opportunities, and necessary mitigation measures. Towards this effort, India can play a leading role in connecting research institutes and scholars, leveraging the knowledge networks it has built across partner nations, such as the ICT centres in Tanzania and Ghana.

· Deploy home-grown Indian start-ups and private technology companies that offer cost-effective, scalable options. Their expertise in niche areas of mining introduces new avenues for value addition that African governments would likely be keen to explore.

For the medium- to long-term, this paper recommends the following:

· Identify strategic projects with African partner countries, mobilise major construction companies, and ensure viable timelines to avoid delays. The arterial infrastructure priorities of African countries, even if they may not have a direct bearing on mining activities, need to be addressed. Small-scale projects for mining-affected communities—such as building houses, health clinics, or schools—when carried out effectively, can garner immense goodwill for Indian actors.

· Prioritise and mobilise the private sector to infuse capital into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, claim new exploration licences, enter joint venture agreements, or set up refineries. Consider launching a “Critical Minerals Compact” with a focus on the SADC countries at the next India–Africa Forum Summit.

· Amplify Indian strengths and be actively engaged in international cooperation frameworks. New Delhi’s role as one of the leading voices of the Global South and its unique position as a link between the developing and developed worlds enable it to imagine, craft, and lead global collaborations on responsible sourcing of critical minerals.

· Strengthen diasporic networks. As economic agents with valuable knowledge of local realities, they have been underutilised. These informal information channels offer an accurate overview of the host countries’ regulatory, political, and socio-economic environment for potential Indian investors.

· Harmonise commercial and strategic interests. Endow local embassies with specialised resources—such as posting experts from the MoM—and grant them autonomy to undertake local development in line with host governments’ priorities. Pitching projects that reflect ground realities and creating integrated action plans for mining area development with their inputs would help combine interventions across health, education, and infrastructure.

While the paper acknowledges India’s shortcomings, such as its limited capacity in critical mineral processing, it focuses on instruments that could foster mutual growth. Informed by insights from mining communities, it examines the sustainability paradox of critical minerals and calls for balancing strategic and economic interests with social and environmental considerations.

The paper cautions that the rationale for the Indian private sector to acquire defined mining assets is fraught with challenges. Therefore, the India option for African governments seeking to advance up the value chain involves a wide spectrum of stakeholders—such as research laboratories, academic networks, mid-sized refiners, recyclers, and small-scale energy companies—who can play a crucial role, both independently and collaboratively, in supporting Africa’s mineral-led growth trajectory.

In an era that could be dominated by the geopolitics of a green energy transition, this study emphasises how recognising African priorities and aligning interests, far from being altruistic, would in fact support New Delhi’s ambitions to diversify and strengthen its critical mineral supply chains. It underlines the need for more granular, thematic, country-specific analyses in the future that unpack the complexity of Africa’s diverse mineral ecosystems from a uniquely Indian point of view.

This paper can be accessed here.

This paper is authored by Veda Vaidyanathan, associate fellow, CSEP, New Delhi.