New venture plans INR 1,250 crore rare-earth magnet plant in Andhra, aimed at India’s China dependence
A new critical-minerals company, N.A.N. MagneTech, says it will invest about INR 1,250 crore to build what it calls India’s first fully integrated high-performance NdFeB rare-earth magnet facility, at Naidupeta in Andhra Pradesh, with commercial production targeted for early 2028. The firm says it was founded by Navin Agarwal, who is also Executive Vice Chairman of Vedanta.
Rare-earth permanent magnets are essential to EV motors, wind turbines, defence systems and electronics, and India imports close to all of them, mostly from China. New Delhi has moved to cut that dependence through a National Critical Minerals Mission and budget provisions for rare-earth corridors, including one in Andhra Pradesh. A domestic, integrated oxide-to-magnet plant, if built and financed as described, would be a rare attempt to localise a supply chain China dominates.
Phase I is an initial 1,200 tonnes-a-year capacity, scaling to a planned 10,000 TPA, with projected annual revenue of INR 1,200 to 1,500 crore, the company says. The INR 1,250 crore Phase I outlay lines up with Andhra Pradesh’s approval of two greenfield magnet projects worth a combined INR 3,500 crore, the other being a INR 2,250 crore plant by Japan’s Proterial. The company says it has secured heavy rare-earth oxide feedstock from a major Australian producer and signed off-take agreements with domestic auto OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers, but named neither, and neither could be independently confirmed. It also says it is building the plant with Japanese process technology alongside Dr Masato Sagawa, the inventor of the sintered NdFeB magnet; his involvement is the company’s claim and is not independently confirmed.
The company, part of a platform it calls N.A.N. GreenMet, says the project aligns with Atmanirbhar Bharat. The investment, feedstock and off-take are company claims at this stage, none independently verified.
