Mines Ministry designates 4 IITs, 3 research labs as centres of excellence

The Ministry of Mines has designated seven top institutions, including four IITs and three research labs, as centres of excellence (CoEs) under the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM).

This move, approved during the Project Approval and Advisory Committee (PAAC) meeting on July 31, 2025, aims to accelerate research and technology development in the field of critical minerals.

Critical minerals play a vital role in clean energy, e-mobility, electronics, defence, and space technologies. The CoEs are expected to drive transformational R&D, reaching high technology readiness levels (TRL 7/8) with pilot and pre-commercial demonstrations of new technologies.

These centres will operate under a hub-and-spoke model, each forming a consortium involving a minimum of two industry partners and two R&D or academic institutions. Together, the seven CoEs have onboarded around 80 partners, creating a national collaborative framework to fast-track innovation.

Recognised centres of excellence:

·      IIT Bombay

·      IIT Hyderabad

·      IIT (ISM) Dhanbad

·      IIT Roorkee

·      CSIR – IMMT, Bhubaneswar

·      CSIR – NML, Jamshedpur

·      NFTDC, Hyderabad

Also Read : The National Critical Mineral Mission — why it is a commendable beginning 

“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, ” the press release stated. They will be funded on a project basis by various government R&D schemes, industry and venture investors, it added.

The initiative marks a crucial step towards India’s ambition to become self-reliant in critical minerals and reduce dependence on foreign imports, ensuring resilience in sectors shaping the future economy.

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