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Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-India moves to conserve its rare earths, seeks halt to Japan exports, sources say
By Neha Arora and Aditi Shah NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India has asked state-run miner IREL to suspend a 13-year-old agreement on rare earth exports to Japan and to safeguard supplies for domestic needs, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, aiming to reduce India's dependence on China. IREL also wants to develop India's capacity for rare earth processing, which is dominated globally by China and has become a weapon in escalating trade wars. China has curbed its rare earth materials exports since April, pressuring automakers and high-tech manufacturers worldwide. In a recent meeting with auto and other industry executives, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal asked IREL to stop its exports of rare earths, mainly neodymium, a key material used in magnets for electric vehicle motors, one of the sources said. The Commerce Ministry, IREL and the Department of Atomic Energy, which oversees IREL, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. Under a 2012 government agreement, IREL supplies rare earths to Toyotsu Rare Earths India, a unit of Japanese trading house Toyota Tsusho, which processes them for export to Japan where they are used to make magnets. In 2024, Toyotsu shipped more than 1,000 metric tons of rare earth materials to Japan, commercially available customs data showed. That is one-third of the 2,900 tons mined by IREL, although Japan relies mainly on China for its rare earths supply. Toyota Tsusho and Toyotsu did not immediately respond to requests for comment. IREL has been exporting rare earths due to a lack of domestic processing capacity, but following the recent disruptions to supplies of Chinese material it wants to keep its rare earths at home and expand domestic mining and processing, a second source said, adding that IREL is awaiting statutory clearances at four mines. However, India may not immediately be able to stop supplies to Japan because they fall under a bilateral government agreement, the person said. IREL wants this to be "amicably decided and negotiated because Japan is a friendly nation", the person added. Japan's Trade Ministry said in a statement to Reuters: "We would like to refrain from answering questions about bilateral exchanges in general, not just about this matter." EXPANSION PLANS China's recent export controls on rare earth materials have rocked the global auto industry, which has warned of supply chain disruptions and production halts. China also weaponised its supplies in 2010, when it briefly stopped shipments to Japan. That prompted the Japanese to turn to India for rare earths. India has the world's fifth-largest rare earth reserves, at 6.9 million metric tons, but there is no domestic magnet production. India relies on imported magnets, mainly from China. In the fiscal year to March 2025, India imported 53,748 metric tons of rare earth magnets, government data showed. These are used in automobiles, wind turbines, medical devices and other manufactured goods. Rare earth mining is restricted to IREL, which supplies India's Atomic Energy Department with materials for nuclear power projects and defence-related applications. India lacks wide-scale technology and infrastructure to mine rare earths, and the development of any commercially viable domestic supply chain is years away, analysts said. IREL has a rare earths extraction plant in the eastern Indian state of Odisha and a refining unit in Kerala, in southern India. The miner, founded in 1950, plans to produce 450 metric tons of extracted neodymium in the fiscal year to March 2026 with a plan to double that by 2030, the second person said. It is also looking for a corporate partner for the production of rare earth magnets for the auto and pharmaceutical industries, the person said. India is firming up plans for incentives to companies to set up rare earth processing and magnet production facilities to meet local demand, people familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this month. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
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Air India disaster deals heavy blow to 'world class airline' ambition
By Aditi Shah and Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) -The Air India plane crash in which more than 200 passengers were killed on Thursday has plunged the airline into its deepest crisis yet and will deal a heavy blow to its efforts to revamp its reputation and fleet. After taking the carrier over from the government in 2022, the Tata Group unveiled ambitious plans to reverse years of underinvestment in an ageing and outdated fleet and create a "world class airline", as CEO Campbell Wilson has repeatedly put it, on a par with rivals like Emirates. The turnaround has been aimed at tackling its myriad problems including persistent flight delays, disgruntled customers, a shortage of spare parts, delayed plane deliveries and years of financial losses. "Newer aircraft and better maintenance should be the hallmark for Air India to survive. Proper maintenance is what they should be looking into, because Air India has had a chequered past," said Vibhuti Deora, a former legal expert at India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. That past includes, while under government ownership, Boeing 737 flight from Dubai overshooting the runway at one domestic airport and crashing into a gorge in 2010, killing 158 people. More recently, its low-cost unit Air India Express saw one craft skid off a runway in India in 2020, killing 21 people. Only a few days ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told an international gathering of hundreds of airline executives in New Delhi that the country's aviation industry stood at a crucial point of takeoff. On Thursday, however, Air India swapped the bright red colour scheme and logo on its website for a more sombre black and grey one, covering it with a banner that carried the crashed flight's number: "AI-171". "For an airline, the most important thing is the brand's identity with safety. This will be a major setback for the brand in that aspect," said Dilip Cherian, a communications consultant and co-founder of public relations firm Perfect Relations. 'DIFFICULT DAY' With its maharajah mascot, Air India was once renowned for its lavishly decorated planes and stellar service championed by its founder, JRD Tata, India's first commercial pilot. But since the mid-2000s, the carrier's reputation has worsened as financial troubles mounted. It has flown widebody planes with business class seats in poor condition and grounded some of its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners for lack of spare parts. When Tata regained control, the airline was "just in absolute shambles", its CEO Wilson told Reuters in a 2024 interview, noting that some of its planes hadn't had a product refresh since they were delivered in 2010-2011. Air India, which has a 30% share of the domestic passenger market, has a fleet of 198 planes, of which 27 are 10-15 years old and 43 are more than 15 years old, the civil aviation ministry told parliament in March. Air India Express had 101 planes, with 37% of them more than 15 years old. The plane that crashed on Thursday was 11 years old, according to Flightradar24. Rival Indian airlines like IndiGo operate newer planes. Air India, which is part-owned by Singapore Airlines, has placed orders for 570 new jets in recent years and is in talks for dozens more. It has even aggressively expanded its international flight network in the face of the fury of its passengers, who often take to social media to show soiled seats, broken arm rests, non-operational entertainment systems and dirty cabin areas. It has also been ranked the worst airline for flight delays in Britain, where its departures were on average just under 46 minutes behind schedule in 2024, according to analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data by the PA news agency published in May. It has also been reporting losses since at least fiscal 2019-20. In 2023-2024, it reported a net loss of $520 million on sales of $4.6 billion. Before it can make any further progress on these problems, however, it faces the difficult task of investigating one of India's worst aviation disasters ever. "This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India," CEO Wilson said in a video message. "Investigations will take time." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
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Exclusive-India's Maruti Suzuki cuts near-term EV production amid rare earths crisis
By Aditi Shah NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Maruti Suzuki has cut near-term production targets for its maiden electric vehicle e-Vitara by two-thirds because of rare earths shortages, a document showed, in the latest sign of disruption to the auto industry from China's export curbs. India's top carmaker, which said on Monday it had not seen any impact yet from the supply crisis, now plans to make about 8,200 e-Vitaras between April and September, versus an original goal of 26,500, according to a company document seen by Reuters. It cited "supply constraints" in rare earth materials that are vital in making magnets and other components across a range of hi-tech industries. Maruti still plans to meet its output target of 67,000 EVs for the year ending March 2026 by ramping up production in subsequent months, the document said. China's curbs on some rare earth exports have rocked the global auto industry, with companies warning of severe supply chain disruptions. While some companies in the United States, Europe and Japan are seeing supplies easing as they secure licences from Beijing, India is still waiting for China's approval amid fears of production stoppages. Launched amid much fanfare at India's car show in January, the e-Vitara is crucial to Maruti's EV push in the country, marking its entry in a segment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government wants to grow to 30% of all car sales by 2030 from about 2.5% last year. The setback could also hurt parent Suzuki Motor, for which India is the biggest market by revenue and a global production hub for EVs. The bulk of the made-in-India e-Vitaras are earmarked for export by Suzuki to its major markets like Europe and Japan around summer 2025. Maruti told reporters last week the rare earths issue had no "material impact" on the e-Vitara's launch timeline. Chair RC Bhargava said there was "no impact at the moment" on production, local media reported on Monday. Maruti and Suzuki did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Maruti is yet to open bookings for the e-Vitara with some analysts warning it is already late to launch EVs in the world's third-largest car market where Tesla is also expected to begin sales this year. Under its previous plan "A", Maruti was to produce 26,512 e-Vitaras between April and September - the first half of the fiscal year. Under the revised plan "B", it will manufacture 8,221, the document showed, indicating a two-thirds cut in its production schedule. However, in the second half of the financial year - between October and March 2026 - Maruti plans to ramp up production to 58,728 e-Vitaras, or about 440 per day at its peak, versus a previous target of 40,437 for those six months under plan A. Two supply chain sources confirmed Maruti's plan to scale back e-Vitara production because of rare earth magnet shortages but were not privy to the exact numbers. The rare earths crisis comes as Maruti is already grappling to recover market share lost to Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra's feature-rich SUVs. These companies also lead India's EV sales. Maruti's share of India's passenger vehicle market is down to 41% from a recent peak of about 51% in March 2020. Suzuki has trimmed its sales target for India to 2.5 million vehicles by March 2031 from 3 million previously, and scaled back its lineup of EV launches to just four, instead of the six planned before, as competition in the South Asian nation intensifies. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
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Exclusive-India's Maruti Suzuki cuts near-term EV production amid rare earths crisis
By Aditi Shah NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Maruti Suzuki has cut near-term production targets for its maiden electric vehicle e-Vitara by two-thirds because of rare earths shortages, a document showed, in the latest sign of disruption to the auto industry from China's export curbs. India's top carmaker, which said on Monday it had not seen any impact yet from the supply crisis, now plans to make about 8,200 e-Vitaras between April and September, versus an original goal of 26,500, according to a company document seen by Reuters. It cited "supply constraints" in rare earth materials that are vital in making magnets and other components across a range of hi-tech industries. Maruti still plans to meet its output target of 67,000 EVs for the year ending March 2026 by ramping up production in subsequent months, the document said. China's curbs on some rare earth exports have rocked the global auto industry, with companies warning of severe supply chain disruptions. While some companies in the United States, Europe and Japan are seeing supplies easing as they secure licences from Beijing, India is still waiting for China's approval amid fears of production stoppages. Launched amid much fanfare at India's car show in January, the e-Vitara is crucial to Maruti's EV push in the country, marking its entry in a segment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government wants to grow to 30% of all car sales by 2030 from about 2.5% last year. The setback could also hurt parent Suzuki Motor, for which India is the biggest market by revenue and a global production hub for EVs. The bulk of the made-in-India e-Vitaras are earmarked for export by Suzuki to its major markets like Europe and Japan around summer 2025. Maruti told reporters last week the rare earths issue had no "material impact" on the e-Vitara's launch timeline. Chair RC Bhargava said there was "no impact at the moment" on production, local media reported on Monday. Maruti and Suzuki did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Maruti is yet to open bookings for the e-Vitara with some analysts warning it is already late to launch EVs in the world's third-largest car market where Tesla is also expected to begin sales this year. Under its previous plan "A", Maruti was to produce 26,512 e-Vitaras between April and September - the first half of the fiscal year. Under the revised plan "B", it will manufacture 8,221, the document showed, indicating a two-thirds cut in its production schedule. However, in the second half of the financial year - between October and March 2026 - Maruti plans to ramp up production to 58,728 e-Vitaras, or about 440 per day at its peak, versus a previous target of 40,437 for those six months under plan A. Two supply chain sources confirmed Maruti's plan to scale back e-Vitara production because of rare earth magnet shortages but were not privy to the exact numbers. The rare earths crisis comes as Maruti is already grappling to recover market share lost to Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra's feature-rich SUVs. These companies also lead India's EV sales. Maruti's share of India's passenger vehicle market is down to 41% from a recent peak of about 51% in March 2020. Suzuki has trimmed its sales target for India to 2.5 million vehicles by March 2031 from 3 million previously, and scaled back its lineup of EV launches to just four, instead of the six planned before, as competition in the South Asian nation intensifies.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
India's Maruti says no immediate impact from China rare earth magnet curbs
By Aditi Shah NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki, India's top-selling carmaker, said on Monday there was no immediate production impact from China's export curbs on rare earth magnets, a key component, and that it was in talks with the government on the matter. Auto industry manufacturers told government officials last week that production could stall within days due to the curbs, Reuters reported. These companies were worried by the complexity of a new import process requiring approval from Indian and Chinese officials as well as documents such as end-use certificates stating the magnets are not for military purposes. When asked how many weeks of inventory Maruti has before production would be impacted, the automaker said it has submitted an import application and it would be difficult to give "very specific details" until it receives a response. "It is not a restriction. It is an endorsement of end use. In case there is an issue, we will ... inform all our stakeholders, including the stock exchange," Rahul Bharti, senior executive director, corporate affairs, told reporters. However, at an industry meeting with India's heavy industries ministry last week, Maruti said it might be forced to stop production of one of its car models in early June if the magnet issue is not resolved soon, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. China controls over 90% of global processing capacity for the magnets, used in fields as varied as automobiles, home appliances and clean energy. It enacted measures in April requiring companies to obtain import permits. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has told Modi's officials that inventories at parts makers may run out by the end of May, and starting early in June, auto industry production is expected to come to a "grinding halt." India's heavy industries minister, HD Kumaraswamy, told reporters separately on Monday that the government was preparing to send a delegation of industry executives to China in 2-3 weeks to discuss the issue with authorities there. The concerns come as carmakers are gearing up to launch new EVs in the country as they grapple with slowing sales of gasoline models. Maruti, which plans to launch its first EV in India this year - an electric SUV called the e Vitara - does not see any "material impact" on the car's launch timeline because of the magnet issue, Bharti said. Sign in to access your portfolio
