India Achieves Historic Milestone of 200 Mineral Block Auctions in FY 2025–26

• India auctioned 200 mineral blocks in FY 2025–26, the highest ever in a single financial year since the auction regime began in 2015.
• Split: 123 Mining Lease (ML) + 77 Composite Licence (CL) blocks; 70 more blocks (38 ML + 32 CL) under NIT stage.
• Reflects maturation of the transparent auction-based allocation framework introduced via the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015 and deepened by the 2023 amendment opening critical minerals to private sector.
• Strategic significance: secures domestic supply of critical & strategic minerals for clean-energy, EV, defence, and semiconductor value chains — central to Atmanirbhar Bharat in minerals.