Mumbai: As India seeks to build its rare earth magnet industry, ‘s executive vice-chairman Navin Agarwal is betting ₹1,250 crore in his personal capacity as an initial investment in a privately held manufacturing firm that has enlisted some of the world’s top experts for the business. To take the plan forward, this firm plans to tap government’s production incentives for the emerging sector, according to a person in the know.
Newly incorporated NAN MagneTech Pvt. Ltd is a fully-owned subsidiary of NAN GreenMet Pvt. Ltd, a holding company founded by Navin Agarwal, who chairs both the entities.
NAN MagneTech is looking to sign up for a ₹7,280 crore production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme announced by the government last year to kickstart manufacturing of rare earth permanent magnets (REPM) in India after China throttled supply. These small, but powerful magnets, are critical in the manufacturing of an array of crucial products—from motors that run electric vehicles to wind turbines, fighter jets and defence systems.
Gaurav Shukla, deputy chief executive officer at NAN MagneTech, confirmed the company’s plans to Mint over an email. Shukla holds a doctorate degree in materials science from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati and has spent the last decade working on rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing and its applications.
“We are looking forward to participating in the REPM PLI scheme. The bidding entity will be NAN Magnetech Pvt. Ltd,” he said.
The company has already secured land in the Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh and also financial incentive package from the state, he said without elaborating. No timelines have yet been disclosed for the start of the project.
The magnet maker will initially have a capacity to make 1,200 tonnes of high-performance neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnets a year, with plans to expand to up to 10,000 tonnes in phases, Shukla said. Agarwal’s ₹1,250 crore investment will be for the first phase, he added. For perspective, India’s annual requirement for rare earth magnets is estimated at 4,000-5,000 tonnes.
The company has engaged Japanese physicist Masato Sagawa, the inventor of NdFeB magnets, as a technical advisor for the project. It has also roped in US-based expert John Ormerod to chair the technical board. Ormerod has over 40 years of experience in research, development and manufacturing of rare earth magnets.
For raw material procurement, the company has signed long-term contracts with an Australian company for rare earth elements, Shukla said, without disclosing the name of the supplier. The company has also signed long-term supply contracts with major user industries of NdFeB magnets, he said without giving further details.
While Navin Agarwal, brother of Vedanta founder and chairman Anil Agarwal, is planning to make rare earth magnets in his personal capacity under this venture, the publicly traded companies he leads—Vedanta Ltd and Hindustan Zinc Ltd—also have plans to enter into rare earth element mining and refining operations.
China currently controls almost the entire global supply of rare earth magnets and vast swathes of mines producing rare earth elements across Africa. India meets about 80-90% its demand for these powerful and critical magnets from Beijing. Indian manufacturers, especially automakers, were pushed into a corner last year, when China had curbed export of these magnets to flex its muscle during a trade standoff with the US.
Indian policymakers took this supply crunch as a wake-up call and rolled out a scheme to incentivize development of a local rare earth magnet industry to prevent a repeat of the situation.
The deadline to file applications under the PLI scheme is 29 June 2026.