PM Modi to take stock of long-term strategy to address supply chain shocks next week

A high-level review meeting was convened to assess India's long-term strategies for managing supply chain vulnerabilities, with concerned ministries and empo...

What Happened

A high-level review meeting was convened to assess India's long-term strategies for managing supply chain vulnerabilities, with concerned ministries and empowered inter-ministerial groups presenting their sectoral roadmaps.
The review focused on India's exposure to global supply disruptions in critical sectors including energy (crude oil), fertilisers, semiconductors/electronics, and critical minerals essential for the clean energy transition.
The exercise reflects a broader policy pivot — from optimising supply chains for cost efficiency toward designing them for strategic resilience, reducing dependence on single-source geographies and building domestic manufacturing capacity through initiatives such as the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

Static Topic Bridges

Global Supply Chain Resilience — Concept and India's Strategic Vulnerabilities

A supply chain is the entire network of entities, processes, and flows involved in producing and delivering a product or service from raw material to end consumer. Supply chain resilience refers to the ability of this system to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and recover from disruptions. India's integration into global supply chains — while delivering cost advantages — has created concentrated dependencies that pose strategic risks.

India imports approximately 85% of its crude oil requirements, making its energy supply highly sensitive to geopolitical disruptions, OPEC decisions, and freight market shocks.
India depends significantly on imports for three critical agricultural inputs — edible oils, pulses, and fertilisers (particularly DAP and MoP) — with Russia, Belarus, China, and Canada as dominant suppliers of fertiliser raw materials and finished products.
In electronics and semiconductors, India has near-complete import dependence, with China and Taiwan accounting for a large share of supply.
For energy transition minerals (lithium, cobalt, nickel), India has close to complete import dependence; the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) launched in 2024–25 with an outlay of approximately USD 3.94 billion over seven years is the government's response.
The concept of "China + 1" — multinational firms diversifying sourcing and manufacturing away from China — offers India an opportunity that requires supply chain investments to capitalise on.

Connection to this news: The review meeting is a governance response to exactly these vulnerabilities — using empowered inter-ministerial groups to develop sector-specific strategies across energy, agriculture inputs, and manufacturing.

Institutional Mechanisms — PM Economic Advisory Council and Empowered Groups

India's executive policy architecture for economic strategy includes the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC) and sector-specific empowered groups of ministers or secretaries convened for coordinated decision-making on issues that cut across ministry jurisdictions.

The PM Economic Advisory Council (PM-EAC) is a non-constitutional, advisory body reconstituted periodically; it advises the Prime Minister on economic policy matters and publishes periodic assessments of the macroeconomic situation. It does not have statutory status.
Empowered Groups of Ministers (EGoM) or Empowered Groups of Secretaries (EGoS) are ad hoc inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms. They were extensively used during COVID-19 pandemic management (e.g., the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration — EGOVA).
The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (launched October 2021) is an institutionalised cross-ministry infrastructure planning platform that integrates road, rail, port, air, and logistics data to enable coordinated supply chain infrastructure development.
PLI (Production Linked Incentive) Schemes cover 14 sectors including electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, specialty chemicals, and advanced chemistry cells — directly targeting supply chain localisation.

Connection to this news: The empowered groups reviewing supply chain strategies are an exercise of this inter-ministerial coordination architecture — the mechanism through which India translates high-level strategic intent into sectoral action plans.

India's Strategic Stockpiling Policy — Petroleum, Fertilisers, and Critical Minerals

Strategic stockpiling is the government-maintained reserve of essential commodities held to buffer the economy against import disruptions, price spikes, or geopolitical coercion. India has stockpiling policies in petroleum and fertilisers; critical mineral stockpiling is nascent.

Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR): India maintains strategic crude oil reserves through the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Current capacity: 5.33 million metric tonnes (MMT) across three underground caverns at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru (Padur), and Udupi (Mangaluru), providing approximately 9.5 days of import cover. An additional 6.5 MMT has been approved for Phase II development.
Fertiliser Buffer Stocks: The Department of Fertilizers operates a Buffer Stocking Scheme that currently covers approximately 3.5 lakh MT for DAP and 1 lakh MT for MoP. Industry PSUs typically hold 30–45 days' supply. Policy proposals call for expanding to 60–90 days of port-level operational buffer for import-dependent fertilisers.
National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM): Launched in the Union Budget 2024–25, with an outlay of approximately USD 3.94 billion over seven years (2024–2031). Objectives: secure India's critical mineral supplies and strengthen domestic value chains; includes overseas mineral asset acquisition and domestic exploration.
IEA membership context: India joined the International Energy Agency as an Association country, enabling information-sharing on energy security and emergency reserves.

Connection to this news: The supply chain review likely covers assessments of these stockpiling mechanisms, their adequacy relative to India's import exposure, and the gaps that need to be addressed through long-term government-to-government supply contracts and domestic capacity investments.

Key Facts & Data

India's crude oil import dependency: approximately 85% of total consumption.
India's strategic petroleum reserves (ISPRL): approximately 5.33 MMT across 3 locations (Visakhapatnam, Padur, Udupi-Mangaluru) — approximately 9.5 days' import cover.
ISPRL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Current fertiliser buffer: ~3.5 lakh MT DAP + ~1 lakh MT MoP under the Buffer Stocking Scheme.
National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM): outlay ~USD 3.94 billion over 2024–2031.
PLI Schemes: 14 sectors covered, including electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and specialty chemicals.
PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan: launched October 2021; integrates road, rail, port, air, and logistics infrastructure planning.
India has near-total import dependence on lithium, cobalt, and nickel — critical for battery/EV supply chains.
China + 1 strategy: opportunity for India as multinationals diversify sourcing away from single-country dependence.