The Union Cabinet on Wednesday has approved the ‘Capex Support Scheme to Promote Critical Mineral Processing’ with a financial outlay of Rs 2,814 crore over a period of five years targeting the setting up of four plants for lithium and nickel. Processing of critical minerals remains geographically concentrated in a few global locations. This exposes supply chains to geopolitical disruptions, price volatility, and potential supply restrictions, posing severe threats to supply chain resilience and economic security. This has implications for national security, economic sovereignty, and the timely achievement of decarbonisation targets. The scheme, which will run for five years from FY27 to FY31, will provide a capital subsidy of 30 per cent of eligible investment for setting up two lithium processing plants and two nickel processing plants. Under the scheme, capital subsidy of 30% of eligible investment will be provided for setting up four critical mineral processing plants, comprising two lithium processing plants with a minimum capacity of 30 kt each, and two nickel processing plants with a minimum capacity of 50 kt each. The maximum capital support will be capped at Rs 500 crore per lithium beneficiary and Rs 900 crore per nickel beneficiary, respectively. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “Our Critical Minerals Mission has been progressing in a systematic and methodical manner. A major decision taken today is the approval of a scheme for the processing of critical minerals. The focus of the scheme will be to process raw materials, whether obtained through mining or recycling, and bring them to a stage where they are ready for manufacturing. The scheme will cover all 24 critical minerals identified by the government." "It will include both recycled raw materials and materials extracted from mines. This will provide a major boost to manufacturing, including electronics, semiconductors, batteries, defence equipment, heavy equipment and machinery. All these sectors use critical minerals and will benefit from the scheme," he added. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Business, Economy and around the World. Vikas Kumar is Deputy Editor (Business) at Times Now driving coverage across policy, economy and markets. He possesses nearly a decade of experience i... View More