Ministry of Mines has recognized 2 more institutes, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Hyderabad, besides 7 institutes recognized earlier, as Centres of Excellence (CoE) under the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM). This follows the approval granted by the Project Approval and Advisory Committee (PAAC) in its meeting held on 24.10.2025 under the co-chairmanship of Shri Piyush Goyal, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, and Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology.

Critical raw materials form the crucial supply chain for emerging sectors of clean energy and mobility transition, in addition to advanced technology and strategic sectors like electronics, defence, space, etc. In order to develop, demonstrate and deploy technologies in an end-to-end systems approach, it is essential to conduct R&D so as to reach higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), of TRL 7 / 8 pilot plant and pre-commercial demonstration. The CoEs will undertake innovative and transformational research to strengthen and advance the nation’s science and technology capability in the area of critical minerals.

Each CoE will operate as a consortium, on a Hub & Spoke model, to leverage R&D in critical minerals and pooling the core competence of each constituent under one umbrella. The CoE (Hub Institute) is mandated as per the CoE guidelines to bring in at least two industry partners and at least two R&D/ academic partners in the consortium. The 9 recognized CoEs have together brought in around 90 industry and academic/ R&D spokes.

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Shuhaib T