The creation of knowledge in the rare earths domain in India is confi ned to a few government-run complexes with no major links to commercial industry. With interaction between the research community and industry non-existent, India's position as a player in the global rare earths ecosystem is bound to be weak. Further, in the absence of a cohesive national strategy for moving the country up the value chain in rare earths into the intermediate and fi nal product space, India continues to be a low-cost raw material supplier to the global rare earths industry.