India's first offshore mineral auction tranche (13 blocks, launched 28 November 2024) was cancelled in December 2025 after failing to draw the required three technically qualified bidders per block. The Offshore Areas Mineral (Auction) Amendment Rules, 2026 (notified 24 September 2026) cut that threshold to two bidders, and a narrower two-block relaunch (Andaman Sea, 1,632 sq km combined) followed within a week.
Why this regime matters
- Domestic mineral-security policy, not export leverage: unlike China's
minerals-counter-strike cluster, this is a resource-opening mechanism — India courting private capital (domestic and foreign) into its own EEZ for cobalt, nickel, manganese and copper supply, rather than restricting outbound flows.
- Mechanism tuning after a failed first attempt is itself a signal: watch
whether the lowered bidder threshold draws qualified bids this round, and whether subsequent tranches widen beyond the current two-block test.