India and Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Saturday to enhance cooperation in mining and minerals required for the steel sector.
The MoU was exchanged in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil at Hyderabad House, New Delhi.
The agreement provides an institutional framework for strengthening bilateral cooperation across the steel value chain, with a focus on promoting reliable and sustainable development of key raw materials for steel production.
The Cooperation will focus on attracting investment in exploration, mining and infrastructure development in the steel sector; processing and recycling technologies for minerals; automation and use of advanced technologies in exploration and mining; use of artificial intelligence in geoscientific data analysis to enhance exploration processes; and best practices in mineral extraction, processing and environmental management.
Brazil is among the world’s leading producers of iron ore and holds significant reserves of minerals critical to steelmaking, including manganese, nickel and niobium. Enhanced cooperation with Brazil is expected to improve access to key raw materials and technologies necessary for sustaining long-term growth of India’s steel sector.
India currently has a steelmaking capacity of 218 million tonnes. To meet growing domestic demand driven by infrastructure development and industrialisation, Indian companies are undertaking significant expansion in steelmaking capacity. In this context, the MoU is an important step towards strengthening cooperation for development of mineral resources required for steel production, facilitating access to advanced technologies in mineral processing, beneficiation, recycling and data-driven exploration. This partnership will support efficient preparation of steelmaking inputs, enable technology-led improvements across the steel value chain and strengthen resilience and sustainability of the India–Brazil steel supply chain.
