Bhubaneswar: The Ministry of Mines has officially recognized two additional institutions as Centres of Excellence (CoE) under the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM), raising the total number of recognized CoEs to nine.
The new additions are the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, and the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Hyderabad. These institutions were approved at a Project Approval and Advisory Committee (PAAC) meeting held on October 24, 2025, under the co-chairmanship of Shri Piyush Goyal, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, and Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology.
The nine recognized Centres of Excellence are:
- IIT Bombay
- IIT Hyderabad
- IIT – ISM Dhanbad
- IIT Roorkee
- CSIR – Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar (The CoE from Odisha)
- CSIR – National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur
- Non-Ferrous Materials Technology Development Centre (NFTDC), Hyderabad
- Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore
- Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Hyderabad
This expansion is a key step in strengthening research and technology development in critical minerals, which are crucial for clean energy, mobility transition, and strategic sectors like electronics, defence, and space.
The CoEs are mandated to conduct innovative research to advance technologies to higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRL 7/8), involving pilot plant and pre-commercial demonstration. Each CoE operates on a Hub & Spoke model, functioning as a consortium to pool core competence. The nine hubs have collectively brought in around 90 industry and academic/R&D spokes, a testament to the collaborative, end-to-end systems approach adopted by the Mission.