Ministry of Mines Recognises 7 Centres of Excellence to Promote R&D in Critical Minerals
The Ministry of Mines has designated seven premier institutes – including four IITs and three national R&D labs – as Centres of Excellence under the National Critical Mineral Mission to boost research and technology development in critical minerals which are essential for clean energy and EV sector.
August 04, 2025. By Mrinmoy Dey
IIT Bombay, IIT Hyderabad, IIT - ISM Dhanbad, IIT Roorkee, CSIR – IMMT, Bhubaneswar, CSIR – NML, Jamshedpur and NFTDC, Hyderabad have been recognised as CoEs under NCMM. As part of the process to recognise CoEs, the Ministry had earlier called for proposals from eligible institutes and had undertaken an elaborate two-tier evaluation and approval process.
The recognition of CoEs is an important step for fulfilling a key objective of the NCMM, which is research and technology development in critical minerals, said the Ministry of Mines in a statement.
Critical raw materials form the crucial supply chain for emerging sectors of clean energy and mobility transition, in addition to advanced technology and strategic sectors like electronics, defence, space, etc. In order to develop, demonstrate and deploy technologies in an end-to-end systems approach, it is essential to conduct R&D so as to reach higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), of TRL 7/8 pilot plant and pre-commercial demonstration.
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 CoEs will be funded on a project basis by various government R&D schemes, industry and venture investors.
Each CoE will operate as a consortium, on a Hub and Spoke model, to leverage R&D in critical minerals and pool the core competence of each constituent under one umbrella. The CoE (Hub Institute) was mandated, as per the CoE guidelines, to bring in at least two industry partners and at least two R&D/ academic partners in the consortium. The seven recognised CoEs have together brought in around 80 industry and academic/R&D spokes.
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