Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh is preparing a rare earth and titanium investment push targeting more than ₹50,000 crore over the next decade, spanning mining, mineral separation and value-addition plants in the beach sand minerals sector, according to a senior state government official. The initiative is expected to generate close to 40,000 jobs and forms part of the state’s broader plan to build an integrated beach sand minerals, rare earth and titanium ecosystem.
Resource Base
Geological Survey of India assessments have identified 16 critical minerals in commercially significant quantities across Andhra Pradesh, with the state holding an estimated 211 million tonnes of heavy beach sand minerals and accounting for roughly 30% of India’s monazite reserves. Monazite contains rare earth elements, including lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium, alongside co-occurring minerals such as ilmenite, rutile, zircon and garnet, concentrated along the state’s coastline through natural sedimentary processes.
Policy Timeline
Andhra Pradesh’s plans follow Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s 2026-27 Budget announcement that the Central government would support the development of Dedicated Rare Earth Corridors across four coastal states: Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. The Department of Atomic Energy has identified potential corridor sites across these states, including the Vizag-Srikakulam belt in Andhra Pradesh, the Kochi-Thiruvananthapuram belt in Kerala, and Gopalpur in Odisha.
According to state officials, Andhra Pradesh’s comprehensive rare earth policy is expected to receive Cabinet approval and be notified in the near term, after which the state will notify industrial parks and the rare earth corridor before proceeding to partner with companies on an end-to-end industrial ecosystem. The policy framework incorporates capital-linked incentive structures, with enhanced benefits reserved for projects committing ₹1,000 crore or more in capital expenditure.
Kerala has separately moved into the execution phase of its own proposed ₹42,000 crore rare earth corridor, reported to be the first of the four designated states to operationalise the Centre’s strategic minerals push.
Regulatory Context
Monazite’s thorium content places it under India’s Atomic Energy Act, which restricts mining and processing largely to state-run Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) and limits private-sector participation, a regulatory framework that differs from most other countries, which typically regulate mildly radioactive mineral residues like monazite under routine Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (TENORM) frameworks rather than atomic energy law.
IREL is currently establishing a 10,000-tonne-per-year monazite processing plant at Gudur in Nellore district, expected to become a component of India’s domestic rare earth refining capacity.
Trade Context
India’s imports of monazite and related mineral substances rose 11.7 times between 2015 and 2024, from $7 million to $86 million, making India the world’s fifth-largest importer of the material despite its domestic reserves. Exports over the same period rose 3.4 times, from $7 million to $31 million, leaving India a net importer. India separately spent $221 million on rare earth magnet-related imports in 2025. The government estimates annual domestic consumption of rare earth permanent magnets (REPM) at around 4,000 tonnes, projected to double by 2030 on rising demand from electric vehicles, renewables, defence and electronics.
National Framework
The state-level corridor push complements the Centre’s ₹7,280 crore Rare Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) Manufacturing Scheme, approved in November 2025, which targets 6,000 metric tonnes per annum of integrated sintered magnet manufacturing capacity covering the value chain from rare-earth oxides to finished magnets.
According to reports citing sources familiar with state planning documents, companies including Reliance Industries, Vedanta and the Adani Group have expressed preliminary interest in establishing rare earth processing infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh; no binding investment commitments have been publicly confirmed by any of these entities.