IRE Chatrapur set to slash imports, create local jobs

The Union Budget’s visionary proposal to establish Rare Earth Corridors has kindled fresh hopes for India’s strategic mineral sector, with Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE) at Chatrapur emerging as a major beneficiary. The initiative is expected to significantly reduce India’s dependence on imports of rare earth products while unlocking large-scale employment opportunities in the region, said State Steel and Mines Minister Bibhuti Bhu-san Jena.

Odisha’s mineral-rich coastal belt, particularly Ganjam, has long been known for its deposits of monazite and other rare earth-bearing critical mineral sands. With the Centre’s push to develop integrated Rare Earth Corridor linking mineral extraction, processing, manufacturing and logistics, the Chatrapur unit of IRE is poised to play a pivotal role in strengthening the do-mestic supply chain of critical minerals, the minister said.

The corridor framework aims to ensure that rare earth minerals mined and processed in India are also value-added within the country, rather than being exported in raw or semi-processed form. This is expected to sharply curtail imports of finished rare earth products, especially permanent magnets that are crucial for electric vehicles, renewable energy, electronics and defence manufacturing, he said.

For Chatrapur, the policy opens doors to capacity expansion, technological upgradation and downstream manufacturing, transforming the existing facili-ty into a more comprehensive rare earth hub.

Officials and experts believe that as processing and allied manufacturing units grow around IRE, the region will witness a surge in direct and indirect employment, ranging from skilled technical jobs to logistics, services and an-cillary industries.

The employment potential is particularly significant for Ganjam district, where industrial diversification has been a long-standing demand. Local youth are expected to benefit from new skill requirements in mineral processing, advanced materials, engineering and research, aligning with the national goal of building a future-ready workforce.

Beyond regional impact, the Rare Earth Corridor is seen as a strategic move to enhance India’s self-reliance in critical minerals, reduce vulnerability to global supply disruptions and position the country as a reliable player in global rare earth value chains.

As the corridor takes shape, Chatrapur is set to move from being a quiet pro-cessing centre to a strategic engine of import substitution, employment generation and industrial growth, reinforcing Odisha’s role in India’s march to-wards economic and technological self-sufficiency.

Though three new National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Re-search (NIPER) are under Budget proposals and specific locations are yet to be officially finalised, Jena reaffirmed that one such NIPER would be estab-lished in Ganjam district.

Presently there are seven NIPERs in India includ-ing NIPER, SAS Nagar (Mohali) – Punjab, NIPER, Ahmedabad – Gujarat, NIPER, Hajipur – Bihar, NIPER, Hyderabad – Telangana, NIPER, Kolkata – West Bengal, NIPER, Guwahati – Assam and NIPER, Raebareli – Uttar Pra-desh.

The three new NIPERs are envisioned to strengthen India’s capability in bio-pharmaceutical education and research. Foster an ecosystem for complex biologics and biosimilars R&D and production and support the broader goal of making India a global biopharma hub, Jena said.

The Union government has earmarked Rs 10,000 crore for five years for these 3 new NIPERs and development of existing seven NIPERs in India under Biopharma Shakti initiative, aimed at boosting domestic biopharma re-search, manufacturing, and clinical trials.