India is in talks with Australia to procure minerals which can be used in batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said India has a scarcity of critical minerals required for battery making and Australia has huge reserves which they do not process and manufacture.

At present, various countries import these minerals from Australia to develop their manufacturing base.

“Going forward, we would need those minerals for our EVs...We have discussed this. It was also discussed at the Prime Ministers’ level,” he told reporters.

India and Australia have reached a major milestone in working towards investment in critical mineral projects to develop supply chains between the two countries.

Union minister for coal and mines Pralhad Joshi and minister for resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King held bilateral talks on Friday and announced that the partnership has identified five target projects (two lithium and three cobalt) to undertake detailed due diligence, according to a mines ministry statement.

The two countries have expressed their commitment to conclude the negotiation to expand the scope of the existing free trade agreement by the end of this year with an aim to push bilateral trade to $100 billion.

The issue came up for discussion during the meeting of the joint ministerial commission between Goyal and his Australian counterpart Don Farrell.

Farrell is accompanying Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who is in India on an official visit.

On December 29, India and Australia implemented an economic cooperation and trade agreement (ECTA) and are now negotiating to expand its scope for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA).

“We are now entering into phase-2 of our discussions where we are looking at much wider ambit of subjects and taking this into a CECA,” Goyal told reporters here.