Khanij Bidesh India

What Khanij Bidesh India does

Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) is a joint venture company incorporated on 8 August 2019 under the Companies Act 2013, owned by three Government of India public sector enterprises in the ratio NALCO 40%, HCL 30%, and MECL 30%, and operating under the administrative control of the Ministry of Mines. Its mandate is to identify, explore, acquire, develop, mine, process, and procure strategic minerals from overseas for supply into the Indian domestic market, addressing India's roughly 93% import dependency for critical minerals and exposure to China's dominance in rare earth refining.

KABIL's core offerings are (i) Critical Minerals Acquisition and Exploration and (ii) Overseas Mineral Asset Management. The company applies conventional geological mapping, sampling, and lithium brine extraction techniques rather than proprietary AI-driven systems. Its flagship asset is the exploration and exclusivity rights for five adjacent lithium brine blocks (Cortadera I, Cortadera VII, Cortadera VIII, Cortadera VI, and Cateo2022-01810132) covering 15,703 hectares in Argentina's Catamarca province, secured under an agreement with the state-owned CAMYEN, with field exploration commencing on 4 October 2024. Additional partnership MoUs are active with Australia's Critical Minerals Office, Chile's ENAMI, the UAE's International Resource Holdings consortium, and India's CSIR-IMMT for technical cooperation.

The business model is sales-led but structured as Government-to-Government (G2G) and Government-to-Business (G2B) partnerships rather than commercial sales. KABIL is capitalized at INR 500 crore authorized and INR 100 crore paid-up, funded by its three promoter CPSEs whose combined market capitalization is approximately US$3 billion and whose combined workforce is around 7,800 across geology, mining, mineral processing, and metallurgy. Revenue and pricing are not publicly disclosed; the company is pre-production, and its customer base is effectively the Indian government ecosystem including ministries, PSUs, and domestic EV battery, renewable energy, and defense manufacturers.

Name

Khanij Bidesh India

Legal name

Khanij Bidesh India Limited

Website

https://kabilindia.in

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

KABIL is a Government of India joint venture (NALCO, HCL, MECL) that identifies, explores, acquires, and develops overseas critical mineral assets—primarily lithium and cobalt—to supply India's EV, renewable energy, and defense sectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Critical Minerals Supply

NAICS

Other Nonmetallic Mineral Mining and Quarrying (21239)

SIC

Metal Mining (1000)

akta.pro primary industry

Lithium Mining & Brine Extraction (IMAKAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Exploration & Resource Development (Critical Minerals) (IMAKAFAL), Mine Development & Processing EPC (Critical Minerals) (IMAKAFAM), Natural Resources — Energy & Mineral Resources (FSAAAKAJ)

Keywords

• Critical mineral exploration
• Overseas mineral acquisition
• Lithium brine mining
• Battery mineral supply
• Strategic mineral sourcing

Headquarters

HQ city

New Delhi

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Critical Mineral Supply to India: KABIL identifies, explores, acquires, develops, mines, and processes strategic minerals overseas for supplying primarily to India to meet domestic requirements. The minerals are intended to support India's clean energy transition, electric mobility, and defense manufacturing sectors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) identifies, explores, acquires, develops, mines, processes, and sources strategic and critical minerals outside India primarily to meet domestic requirements. The company focuses on battery and defense-grade minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earths through government-to-government (G2G) and government-to-business (G2B) partnerships in countries including Argentina, Australia, and Chile.

Product overview

KABIL operates as a single unified service offering focused on securing India's critical mineral supply chain through overseas exploration and acquisition. The company identifies, explores, acquires, develops, mines, processes, and sources strategic minerals (primarily lithium and cobalt for battery applications) from countries including Argentina, Australia, and Chile. KABIL serves as a bridge between India's domestic manufacturing needs and global mineral resources, supporting the nation's clean energy transition and electric vehicle manufacturing ambitions under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. The company functions as a joint venture vehicle for the Government of India, Ministry of Mines, combining expertise from NALCO, HCL, and MECL.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Critical Minerals Acquisition and Exploration KABIL identifies, explores, acquires, develops, and mines strategic minerals outside India to supply domestic requirements, with a primary focus on battery minerals including lithium and cobalt for India's clean energy transition and EV manufacturing sector.
• Overseas Mineral Asset Management Management of international mineral assets acquired through government-to-government (G2G), government-to-business (G2B), and business-to-business (B2B) arrangements. Currently managing lithium brine blocks in Argentina's Catamarca province and conducting due diligence on lithium and cobalt projects in Australia.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• International Resource Holdings (IRH), UAEflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 September 2024KABIL along with Oil India Limited (OIL) and ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) signed MoU with International Resource Holdings (IRH), UAE for global collaboration in supply chain including project identification, due diligence, development strategy, risk management, and offtake strategy.
• CAMYEN (Catamarca Minera y Energética Sociedad del Estado)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 January 2024KABIL signed an agreement with Argentina's state-owned CAMYEN to obtain exploration and exclusivity rights for 5 adjacent lithium brine blocks covering 15,703 hectares in Catamarca province. The blocks include Cortadera I, Cortadera VII, Cortadera VIII, Cateo2022-01810132, and Cortadera VI. Exploration activities started on 4th October 2024.
• ENAMI (Empresa Nacional de Minería), ChileflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2023NDA signed with ENAMI, Chile's state-owned mining company, in May 2023 for pursuing lithium mining projects. An Indian delegation led by NITI Aayog, including CEO KABIL, visited Chile in October 2019 to explore cooperation areas. Team of geoscientists planned to visit Chile for further collaboration.
• Critical Minerals Office (CMO), Government of AustraliacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2022MoU signed between KABIL and Critical Minerals Office, Government of Australia in March 2022 for joint due diligence on selection of Lithium and Cobalt projects for KABIL investment and sourcing of battery minerals to India. Due diligence of projects is in progress.
• NITI AayogcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2019Indian delegation led by NITI Aayog, including CEO KABIL, visited Chile in October 2019 for exploring possible areas of cooperation in lithium mining assets. NITI Aayog plays a role in strategic planning for critical mineral partnerships.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Sigma Lithium Corporation: Sigma Lithium is a Brazilian hard-rock lithium developer with commercial production from the Grota do Cirilo project. Although focused on spodumene rather than brine, Sigma shares KABIL's mandate as a Latin American critical minerals supplier serving global battery markets.
• SQM (Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile): SQM is one of the world's largest lithium brine producers, operating in Chile's Salar de Atacama. KABIL's MoU with ENAMI in Chile targets the same geographic resource base, and SQM's operations define the competitive and pricing dynamics KABIL would face in the Chilean lithium sector.
• Lithium Argentina AG: Lithium Argentina (formerly Lithium Americas Argentina) is a direct peer that operates the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium brine project in Jujuy, Argentina. It shares KABIL's focus on Argentine lithium brine development and serves similar downstream battery-grade lithium offtake markets.

Broad incumbents

• Tianqi Lithium: Tianqi Lithium is a major Chinese integrated lithium producer with interests in the Greenbushes mine in Australia and global processing assets. It competes with KABIL in the same critical mineral supply markets and represents the type of large-scale incumbent KABIL's Australian due diligence faces.
• Ganfeng Lithium: Ganfeng Lithium is one of the world's largest lithium compound producers with global mining, processing, and battery recycling operations. As a major Chinese-backed incumbent, Ganfeng competes with KABIL for international lithium resources and downstream offtake.
• Albemarle Corporation: Albemarle is the world's largest lithium producer with operations across the US, Chile, and Australia. As a global incumbent, Albemarle competes with KABIL for upstream lithium assets and supplies the same downstream EV battery and energy storage customers that KABIL targets.

Emerging players

• Mineral Resources Limited: Mineral Resources is an Australian diversified mining company with significant lithium exposure through the Mt Marion joint venture and ongoing processing investments. KABIL's Australian partnership portfolio overlaps with Mineral Resources' operating footprint in critical minerals.
• Pilbara Minerals: Pilbara Minerals operates the Pilgangoora hard-rock lithium mine in Western Australia. KABIL's Australian due diligence on lithium and cobalt projects places it in direct comparison with Pilbara's Australian lithium operations and offtake counterparties.
• Core Lithium: Core Lithium is an Australian lithium developer that commenced spodumene concentrate production at Finniss in the Northern Territory. As an emerging Australian producer, Core Lithium is comparable to KABIL's exploration-stage position in Australia and competes for the same junior project pipeline.

Regional players

• International Resource Holdings (IRH): IRH is a UAE-based strategic critical minerals investment vehicle that signed an MoU with KABIL, Oil India, and ONGC Videsh in September 2024. While not a direct competitor, IRH operates a comparable state-backed critical minerals mandate in a different geography, making it a structurally similar peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Kabil_india
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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