The Geological Survey of India and Rajasthan government officials have confirmed that there are significant lithium reserves in the Degana municipality of Nagaur District in Rajasthan.
Earlier, reserves were found in Jammu & Kashmir of 5.9 million tonnes. These reserves are significantly higher than what was found in Jammu & Kashmir.
Officials claim that the amount of lithium found in Rajasthan is enough to meet 80% of the demand and requirement of the country.
Lithium is a non-ferrous metal that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. It is a nonferrous metal that converts chemical energy to electrical energy. It is used in EV batteries.
India currently imports many minerals such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt. It is looking to increase its supply to further its plans to expand the use of electric vehicles.
Currently, 47% of world lithium production is produced in Australia, while 30% takes place in Chile, and 15% occurs in China. However, 58% of the processing is done in China, while 29% takes place in Chile, and 10% occurs in Argentina.
Reaction Quote from EV Industry Experts:
As India discovers significant lithium reserves in Rajasthan, in addition to the previously discovered reserves in Jammu and Kashmir, the country is well positioned to become the 3rd largest market for EVs in the next 4 years. Batteries, being the single largest cost and supplies dominated by China, have been a major obstacle for India’s EV industry. However, with the ‘Make in India’ initiative and the discovery of lithium reserves, India is now able to reduce its dependence on foreign countries and control the fluctuating price of lithium. This development not only enables India to meet its domestic requirements but also allows it to supply lithium to other countries, creating a promising future for the country’s EV industry. The future seems charged up for India as it accelerates towards achieving its goal of transitioning towards sustainable energy sources while reducing its carbon footprint.”
Mr Varun Goenka, CEO & Co-Founder, Chargeup
Lithium-ion batteries are by far the most efficient, safer, and lightweight battery options for electric vehicles. This is where the discovery of Lithium reserves in different parts of India augurs very well for the Indian EV ecosystem. It is true that the mere discovery of the Lithium reserves isn’t automatically going to change everything as we will need to build processing infrastructure and expertise. This is an area where countries like China and the US are far ahead of us in terms of sophistication and maturing of markets. At the same time, a start has to be made somewhere, and this potential of domestically produced Lithium usage in supporting the battery manufacturing industry and the overall EV ecosystem is huge. This would bring much-needed encouragement to the domestic markets that have currently been affected by the withdrawal of the FAME II scheme. It must be noted that EV adoption in India has taken off in a big way and people are going to continue buying the EVs regularly when the holistic and supportive ecosystem is in place. That’s where I believe India has made great progress, and the recent discoveries of Lithium reserves will be highly instrumental.
Mr Ankit Kedia, Founder & Lead Investor, of Capital A
The discovery of Lithium deposits in Rajasthan’s Degana (Nagaur) will give the Indian EV Industry a distinct cost advantage once we ascertain the commercial viability of these reserves.
Currently, we do depend on China for EV cell imports. If these reserves are suitable for EV battery manufacturing, our dependence on Lithium imports will significantly drop. Our ability to tap into our Lithium reserves will help EV manufacturers lower their production costs making EVs more affordable for customers in both the passenger EV and commercial EV segments.
However, to make India self-reliant and a global EV manufacturing destination, the industry requires well-rounded support in the form of ease of capital inflow for battery and EV manufacturing, a focused approach towards battery recycling, and a broader spectrum of commercial EV deployments to augment EV adoption across varied industry verticals.
Mr. Kalyan C Korimerla, MD and Co-Promoter, Etrio
