India will have to look for alternatives of rare earth magnets in the long run and the country’s academia and research institutions need to work in the same direction, Nitin Gadkari, union minister for road transport and highways, said on Monday.
“Our young research scholars and institutions like IITs need to look for alternative options (for rare earths) because this problem is due to our dependence on China,” he said.
“The way we are working on alternatives of lithium ion chemistry -- like aluminum ion, zinc ion and sodium ion chemistries -- the same way we need to look if a similar kind of solution can be devised for rare earth magnets as well,” he added.
He said that the ministry of commerce and the ministry of external affairs were working to find a solution to the shortage of rare earth magnets but it was “a difficult problem”.
When asked about the low level of electrification of trucks, which are a major consumers of diesel, he said all kind of alternative fuel technologies need to be given space in India, including the electric vehicles, bio fuels and hydrogen fuel.
The minister was virtually addressing the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Indian School for Design of Automobiles at the XLRI Delhi-NCR campus in Haryana’s Jhajjar.
Gadkari said that good quality and design of India-made vehicles will help expand exports. “Raising exports is very important for our economy and exports depend upon the quality, design and cost (of the product),” he said.
The design school will be India’s first dedicated institution for automobile designing. The institute, planned to be inaugurated next year, will offer masters program in automobile designing to 25 students in the first year.
Avik Chattopadhyay, Chairperson, XLRI Centre of Automobile Design & Management, said the Indian automobile industry needs to climb up the value chain and focus on designing vehicles in the country. It would help establish a unique identity of Indian designed vehicles in the world, similar to Italian or Japanese designs, he added.
Giving the example of Apple, he said that an iPhone’s value lies in its design. It does not matter to the customer much that where it has been manufactured. “Manufacturing brings revenue, design brings value,” Chattopadhyay said.
