UNCOMMON ATTRACTION. The highly effective neodymium-iron-boron magnets are made of pricy uncommon earths
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Can India obtain magnet independence? The trustworthy reply is, no — at the least, not anytime quickly. However, it could cut back its dependence on different nations, particularly China, for its magnet requirement.
A number of steps have been taken within the latest previous. In November 2025, the federal government authorised a ₹7,280 crore scheme to advertise the manufacture of sintered uncommon earth everlasting magnets in India. The scheme is bold — it seeks to create within the nation an annual manufacturing capability for 10,000 tonnes of magnets.
Today, India consumes about 6,000 tonnes, nearly all of it met by imports. Consumption is anticipated to double by 2030.
The public-funded Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) lately said that’s has developed know-how for producing uncommon earth alloy powders “directly from inexpensive oxides, at much lower temperatures”, thereby slashing prices.
Meanwhile, know-how for changing RE alloys into magnets “is available with the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad”, in accordance with a authorities press launch.
Now, there’s a suggestion from Dr Raghavan Gopalan, usually the “magnet man of India”, who lately retired as Director of the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), a authorities analysis laboratory primarily based in Hyderabad.
Raghavan Gopalan, former director of ARCI
Gopalan had earlier instructed businessline that India may cut back its import dependence for magnets by utilizing one uncommon earth mineral abundantly out there inside its shores — cerium. Most high-performance everlasting magnets at the moment are constructed from neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB), typically utilizing a mixture of neodymium and praseodymium — all of that are comparatively scarce and costly uncommon earths.
Cerium-based magnets are basically a modified model, the place part of the neodymium-praseodymium content material is changed with cerium — probably the most ample and most cost-effective uncommon earth factor. The ensuing magnet is considerably cheaper, however considerably decrease in efficiency. India has about 2.5 million tonnes of cerium within the monazite sands discovered abundantly in its southern peninsular coast.
Gopalan stated cerium magnets “sit between” bonded and sintered magnets. They don’t match the power of the top-end sintered NdFeB magnets utilized in electrical autos or wind generators, however can compete with or outperform lower-end bonded magnets in lots of functions. This makes them appropriate for mass-market makes use of resembling two-wheelers, home equipment, pumps and industrial motors.
Alloy optimisation
The problem is technical. Cerium tends to weaken magnetic properties. Research efforts, together with in India, are targeted on optimising alloy composition and microstructure to minimise efficiency loss whereas retaining the associated fee benefit.
For India, the attraction is strategic. Cerium makes up a big share of the nation’s uncommon earth sources however has restricted high-value makes use of. Developing cerium-based magnets may permit India to construct a home magnet trade at scale — lowering import dependence whereas placing an underutilised useful resource to work.
Gopalan stated cerium magnets may work nicely in functions that don’t see excessive temperatures, resembling small motors in electrical autos. This “middle-ground” positioning is essential as a result of a lot of India’s magnet demand doesn’t require top-end efficiency. In electrical two-wheelers, for occasion, motors usually function at decrease energy densities and temperatures than in passenger automobiles, making them extra tolerant to modest reductions in magnetic power.
Similarly, home equipment resembling air-conditioners, washing machines and fridges, and industrial tools like pumps, followers and compressors prioritise price, reliability and scale over peak effectivity.
Cerium-based magnets may provide a viable substitute for each imported NdFeB magnets and lower-performance bonded magnets. Slightly bigger magnets or minor motor redesigns can typically compensate for decrease magnetic power with out affecting end-use efficiency.
Gopalan is now in Japan as a part of the Indo-Japan LOTUS initiative, which helps graduate college students and post-doctoral researchers in India to journey to Japan for analysis initiatives beneath Japanese specialists. He intends to provoke a ‘rare earth magnet collaboration’ between the 2 nations.
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Published on May 4, 2026