New Delhi: The government has recognised two more institutes, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Hyderabad, besides seven institutes recognised earlier, as Centres of Excellence (CoE) under the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM), said Ministry of Mines in a statement on October 25.
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"This follows the approval granted by the Project Approval and Advisory Committee (PAAC) in its meeting held on 24.10.2025 under the co-chairmanship of Shri Piyush Goyal, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, and Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology," said the ministry.
Critical minerals form the crucial supply chain for emerging sectors of clean energy and mobility transition, in addition to advanced technology and strategic sectors like electronics, defence, space, etc.
"In order to develop, demonstrate and deploy technologies in an end-to-end systems approach, it is essential to conduct R&D so as to reach higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), of TRL 7 / 8 pilot plant and pre-commercial demonstration," said the ministry.
The Centres of Excellence will undertake innovative and transformational research to strengthen and advance the nation’s science and technology capability in the area of critical minerals.
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Each CoE will operate as a consortium, on a Hub & Spoke model, to leverage R&D in critical minerals and pooling the core competence of each constituent under one umbrella. The CoE (Hub Institute) is mandated as per the CoE guidelines to bring in at least two industry partners and at least two R&D/ academic partners in the consortium. The 9 recognised CoEs have together brought in around 90 industry and academic/ R&D spokes.