India and the United States signed a framework on securing supplies of critical minerals and rare earths in New Delhi on May 26. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio exchanged the agreement, according to Akashvani's account of the ceremony.
Jaishankar said the framework would support more diversified and resilient supply chains, cooperation on financing and better management of critical minerals. Those were the minister's stated objectives for the arrangement. The announcement covered mining and processing as well as security of supply, bringing industrial capacity into the bilateral agenda.
NDTV's contemporaneous report said the cooperation extended from mining through processing and recycling, with scope for joint financing and investment. It traced the initiative to the Modi-Trump meeting in Washington in February 2025. The reported framework thus connects bilateral cooperation with several stages of mineral production rather than a single purchase agreement.
India had already approved a National Critical Mineral Mission on January 29, 2025. The Cabinet announcement distinguished planned expenditure of Rs 16,300 crore from Rs 18,000 crore in expected investment by public-sector undertakings and other participants. Those figures belonged to the earlier domestic mission, not a financial commitment announced under the new US framework.
The mission's approved measures include domestic and offshore exploration, faster regulatory approvals, processing parks and recovery of minerals from discarded products, overburden and tailings. It also envisages a domestic stockpile and encourages Indian public and private companies to acquire mineral assets abroad and trade with resource-rich countries.
The 2025 announcement identified an existing overseas initiative: KABIL had acquired approximately 15,703 hectares in Argentina's Catamarca province for lithium exploration and mining. It also described the S&T-PRISM programme, launched in 2023 to fund startups and smaller enterprises working between research and commercialisation. These named initiatives predate the bilateral signing and establish its domestic policy context.
