Goyal Sounds Alarm On 'Particular Geographies' For Supply Chains

(MENAFN- Live Mint) New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal told an energy conference India must cut its dependence on "particular geographies" and look at alternative sources of supply to build resilient supply chains.

Addressing an India Energy Storage Week event in New Delhi on Thursday, Goyal said India must also look at newer technologies to reduce dependence on imports.

"We must work to prevent distortions. We must reduce our dependence on particular geographies and look at alternative sources of supply where we can have resilience in our supply chain. We must also look at newer technologies so that we are not overly dependent on imports and can focus on self-reliance," said Goyal, speaking virtually at the conference.

He added that critical minerals, the semiconductor industry and other strategic sectors are part of India's“holistic” ambitions for the future.

"Our ambition cannot be restricted only to self-production. The whole value chain, raw materials, battery banks, semiconductors, management systems, the recycling of used equipment, the entire value chain is our holistic ambition," he said.

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Goyal also said India was progressing towards its target of generating 500 gigawatt of renewable energy by 2030. He said that efforts made by the government to promote solar energy have been successful. He suggested a four-pronged approach to promote energy efficiency--focusing on innovation, analysing the co-existence of charging and battery-swapping infrastructure, preventing supply chain distortions, and focusing on becoming part of the full value chain instead of focusing only on production.

This comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a veiled nudge to China, called for diversified supply chains in the critical minerals sector, in order to prevent any one nation weaponizing its resources.

It also follows India's commitment as a part of the Quad grouping to form the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, pledging to work together to secure and diversify supply chains.

Speaking at the 17th Brics summit in Brazil on 7 July, Modi said it was important to make critical mineral supply chains reliable to ensure that no country uses these resources for its own selfish gain or as a weapon against others.

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These calls for making supply chains more resilient come amid a global supply shortage of rare earth metals and allied products due to an export control order by China in April.

China has approximately 90-95% of the world's rare earth metal processing capacity, allowing it to use its exports to its own advantage. These rare earth metals and their products are used in strategic sectors such as renewable energy, clean mobility, and electronics.

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