Myanmar’s Critical Minerals Can Empower India with Strategic Heft

Photo-MRHZ

India-Myanmar bilateral relations have taken a strategic leap and stand on a solid foundation today, with India becoming Myanmar’s 4^th largest export market and the country’s 5_^th largest import partner¹. According to Indian Commerce Ministry data, bilateral trade between India and Myanmar has registered substantial growth, reaching US$2.1 billion in the fiscal year 2024-25². Moreover, India is currently the 11^th largest investor in Myanmar with an approved investment of US$782.82 million by 39 Indian enterprises³. Encouraged by this development, Myanmar is not only considering options to further expand the trade and investment ties but is also exploring the possibility of exporting rare earth minerals to India. This will help diversify Myanmar’s rare earth minerals export basket and reduce India’s critical mineral dependence on China, partially. To this end, a high-level delegation from the Geological Survey of India held consultations with Myanmar’s natural resources and environment conservation ministry officials on opportunities to collaborate in the rare earth and critical mining sector⁴. Significantly, the State-owned Indian Rare Earths Limited reportedly⁵ collected samples from Myanmar earlier this year for cost-benefit analysis.

Critical minerals, especially rare earth elements (REEs), are crucial for India’s green energy transition to achieve sustainable development goals, in tune with the global effort to mitigate climate change. China is the primary source of India’s REE imports, accounting for 81 percent of the country’s import value. In fact, India’s REE imports have increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 percent since 2017, with China’s share rising by eight percent CAGR alone⁶. However, there has been a concerning disruption in imports of rare earth magnets from China since April 2025. In India, Chinese rare earth magnets are used extensively in electric motors, wind turbines, medical devices, and defence technologies. Indian manufacturers are grappling with inventory challenges and disrupted supply chains due to the ongoing import freeze. Recently, the Prime Minister’s Office took stock of pending import applications with Chinese authorities and the associated delay in regulatory clearances. Authorities also deliberated on ways to reduce dependence on a single source, while accelerating the development of an alternative, self-reliant supply chain for rare earths. As a part of that effort, India launched the National Critical Mineral Mission in 2025 to develop an effective domestic framework, apart from looking beyond China for imports. After all, India possesses the world’s third-largest reserves of rare earth elements, amounting to a substantial 6.9 million tons of deposit⁷. Furthermore, India has a huge coastline and approximately 35 percent of the world’s beach and sand mineral deposits are located here, which are significant sources of important rare earths.

On the ethical front, New Delhi will be required to work directly with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) rebels, bypassing Myanmar’s military junta.

As India seeks to reduce over-dependence on China for REEs, can Myanmar’s Kachin State, which is just as big as this author’s home province of West Bengal, ensure an uninterrupted supply of rare earths? Two aspects need to be considered here – ethical and logistical. On the ethical front, New Delhi will be required to work directly with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) rebels, bypassing Myanmar’s military junta. India has generally been wary of engaging non-state actors officially, let alone entering into financial or trade deals with them formally. Though in a different context of countering home-grown rebellion in its north-eastern periphery, New Delhi did cultivate KIA’s umbrella body, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) previously. In the 1980s, KIO’s chairman, Maran Brang Seng, visited India and secured logistical and diplomatic support, for which a Representative Office of Kachin Affairs was inaugurated in the Indian capital⁸. Besides, the Indian government is officially dealing with the Taliban in Afghanistan presently despite hostility during their previous five-year rule before retreating in the winter of 2001 toward Pakistan’s border regions⁹. Apart, the other challenge of sourcing critical minerals from Kachin State is logistical. The type of technical and logistical foundations necessary to support rare earth exports at a commercially viable scale for non-Chinese partners is virtually nonexistent in Myanmar. Also, the lack of capacity for high-purity separation of extracted raw or semi-processed rare earth minerals remains a challenge, especially because shipment of low-value material to distant refining points through isolated and ethnic conflict-ridden territories is laborious. However, it will be strategically beneficial for India if it can build a robust infrastructure, customs regime, and transport corridor to support sustained shipments of rare earth minerals from Myanmar. With Washington eying Myanmar’s rare earth deposits, India, as a critical partner in the Quad grouping, can act as an intermediary for resource processing and eventual supply of processed rare earths to the United States. 

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