Category: Business News
The Union Cabinet on 4 November 2026 approved two major schemes worth ₹17,314 crore in total: ₹2,814 crore to build lithium and nickel processing plants in India, and ₹14,500 crore in viability gap funding to build 92 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of grid-scale energy storage. Both schemes will run for five years, from 2026-27 to 2030-31.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the decisions after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
₹2,814 crore for critical mineral processing
The Capex Support Scheme to Promote Critical Mineral Processing will pay a capital subsidy of 30% of eligible investment for four plants: two lithium processing plants with a minimum capacity of 30 kilotonnes each, and two nickel plants of at least 50 kilotonnes each.
Each lithium plant can get at most ₹500 crore in support, and each nickel plant at most ₹900 crore. Of the total ₹2,814 crore, ₹2,800 crore is for the subsidy and ₹14 crore for administration.
The scheme covers all 24 critical minerals identified by the government, whether obtained through mining or recovered through recycling. The plants are meant to supply industries such as electric vehicles, battery energy storage systems, electronics, defence and speciality steel. The scheme runs under the National Critical Mineral Mission.
India currently depends heavily on imports for processed lithium and nickel, the key materials inside batteries. Building processing capacity at home is meant to cut that dependence and make India’s battery and electronics supply chains more secure.
₹14,500 crore for 92 GWh of energy storage
The second scheme provides ₹14,500 crore as viability gap funding — a government grant that covers part of a project’s cost so it can sell its service at a price buyers will accept — to build 92 GWh of grid-scale storage between 2026-27 and 2030-31.
The 92 GWh is split three ways: 60 GWh of pumped hydro storage, 30 GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS), and 2 GWh for newer, emerging storage technologies. The government estimates the projects will attract total investment of about ₹97,600 crore.
Battery projects under the scheme must meet a 40% domestic content requirement, so a large share of the batteries must be made in India. The storage is needed to balance India’s fast-growing renewable energy capacity, storing solar and wind power when it is plentiful and releasing it when demand is high.
Also approved: VISTAR
The same Cabinet meeting also approved VISTAR — the Viksit Bharat Initiative for Statistical Transformation, Analytics and Research — with an outlay of ₹4,371.10 crore for 2026-27 to 2030-31, to modernise India’s official statistical system.
Source: PIB / Cabinet releases, 4–5 November 2026.
