The Ministry of Heavy Industries has notified a scheme to promote domestic manufacturing of rare earth magnets. Under the scheme, incentives will be capped at ₹2,150 per kg of sintered NdFeB magnets. Sales-linked incentives will be disbursed only after the commissioning of manufacturing capacity and will be capped in the range of ₹645 crore to ₹1,290 crore.
In addition, capital subsidy support will be provided in the range of ₹75 crore to ₹150 crore. The minimum expenditure towards eligible investment under the scheme has been set between ₹300 crore and ₹600 crore.
The total financial outlay of the scheme is ₹7,280 crore. As part of the framework, IREL will allocate 500 tonnes per annum (TPA) of NdPr oxide to beneficiaries under the scheme.
The scheme is open to companies, international entities or groups of companies. The lead partner in a consortium will be required to hold a minimum shareholding of 51%. The eligibility criteria also include net worth thresholds linked to proposed capacity.
A bidder applying for 600 TPA capacity must have a minimum net worth of ₹180 crore. For capacities of 700-800 TPA, the minimum net worth requirement is ₹245 crore, while bidders seeking 900-1,000 TPA capacity must have a net worth of at least ₹310 crore. For applications covering 1,100-1,200 TPA capacity, the minimum net worth requirement is ₹375 crore.
The ministry said that detailed eligibility conditions will be specified in the request for proposal document. Applicants will be required to submit a detailed project report, which will be examined by a technical committee.
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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
