“Over the next five years, we will deploy around Rs 7,000 crore. All of this will be within the corridor that the government has announced,” Chief Executive Officer Nitin Gupta told Business Standard in an interview.
The company is evaluating Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh as potential locations for setting up refining facilities for rare earth elements and other critical minerals, including lithium carbonate, cobalt, nickel and graphite. Attero is currently targeting around 22 of the 30 critical minerals identified by the government, including rare earths.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech for 2026-27, said the Centre would support dedicated rare-earth corridors in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, focusing on the mining, processing, research and manufacturing of strategic minerals.
The push came amid India’s efforts to reduce dependence on China for rare-earth permanent magnets, which are critical for electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics and defence systems. The corridor initiative builds on the Rs 7,280 crore scheme approved by the Union Cabinet last November to promote domestic manufacturing of sintered rare-earth permanent magnets (REPMs). The policy momentum followed China’s move last year to curb exports of REPMs.
While mining will be part of the ecosystem, Gupta emphasised that the key bottleneck lies in downstream capabilities. “The majority of the technical and capacity challenge lies in processing and refining,” he said.
However, he added that Attero holds more than 47 granted global patents in refining technologies developed in India, with registrations across the US, Europe and Asia, thus assuaging concerns over the availability of indigenous technology.
The company is undertaking an aggressive capacity expansion. In e-waste, the current capacity of 1,44,000 tonnes per annum is being increased by another 100,000 tonnes, with a target of scaling to around 500,000 tonnes.
In lithium-ion battery recycling, Attero plans to expand capacity from 17,000 tonnes to about 300,000 tonnes over the next five years. Magnet recycling capacity, directly linked to rare earth processing, is set to increase from one tonne per day to 100 tonnes per day within two years.
The company did not apply for Kerala’s earlier tender for rare earth-related projects and is focusing instead on southern states where it sees stronger alignment with the proposed corridor framework.
However, Gupta cautioned that timely implementation will be critical. Since the corridor will require coordination between the Centre and states, delays in land acquisition and clearances remain a risk. “Policies need to come into action on the ground,” he said, adding that faster execution would determine the corridor’s success.
