Govt, industry, academia join hands to tackle rare earth magnet challenge

Time of India

21 hours ago

Government, industry and academia are working to resolve the issues concerning
rare earth magnets
, which are used in the automobile sector and other devices, a senior
Meity
official said on Friday.
The technology exists to make rare earth magnets but to produce them at a commercially competitive rate is a challenge, ministry of electronics and IT, additional secretary, Amitesh Sinha said. Speaking on the sidelines of Tec-Verse event showcasing PSU technology research, Sinha said that to solve the issues concerning rare earth, all three partners - govt, industry and academia - are doing their work.
"Technology is there, but we have to see how commercially we can do it at a competitive price. So that is the main challenge. Govt will surely work because these things are now becoming strategic and important," Sinha said.
The Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (
C-MET
), a research unit under Meity, at the event signed a transfer of technology agreement with Ahmedabad-based firm
Somal Magnets
for the production of rare earth magnets. Sinha said the work on the technology development has been going on for some years as the govt realises the importance of material technologies.
"It is an effort of the last few years. So they (C-MET) have already been working on it, but suddenly the focus has come on this rare earth material. For such things, first we will have to develop a capability which, at the time of crisis, can be easily scaled. So that kind of infrastructure or capability we are aiming for now," Sinha said.
He, however, said Meity is not directly engaged in the production of rare earth magnets but only in some technologies that are important for their production. In April 2024, China implemented strict export licensing on rare earth elements like terbium and dysprosium - key inputs for high-level performance NdFeB (Neodymium-Iron-Boron) magnets used in consumer electronics.
The country's oldest electronics industry body, Elcina, said that the move has disrupted global supply chains, hitting India's fast-growing hearables and
wearables sector
hard, and the device makers are switching to import fully assembled speaker modules from China.