Modi’s Indonesia Visit Aims to Secure Critical Minerals for India’s Energy Transition
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Indonesia from July 6 to 8 is being seen as a strategic move to secure access to nickel, a critical mineral for India’s electric vehicle and clean energy industries. Indonesia holds the world’s largest nickel reserves, and Chinese companies have already built a dominant position in downstream processing there. With India’s growing demand for nickel in battery production, the visit offers a window of opportunity to establish a foothold in Indonesia’s nickel value chain.
The visit reciprocates President Prabowo Subianto’s trip to India in 2025. It is the first leg of a six-day Indo-Pacific tour that will also take Modi to New Zealand and Australia. Indonesia is among India’s oldest partners in Asia, with cultural links dating back centuries. The 1955 Bandung Conference, which laid the foundations of the Non-Aligned Movement, is a shared legacy that today supports a strategic partnership spanning the Indian Ocean and the wider Indo-Pacific.
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic state, straddles the Malacca Strait, one of the busiest maritime trade routes. India guards the western approach to this strait, and both countries share a maritime boundary in the Andaman Sea. This geography makes cooperation on maritime security and connectivity a natural priority. Modi’s visit aims to translate strategic convergence into practical cooperation in areas such as critical minerals, connectivity, healthcare, space, digital public infrastructure, and tourism, building on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established in 2018.
The outcome of this visit could shape India’s supply-chain resilience for clean energy technologies. Analysts note that India may have only a few years to secure a meaningful presence in Indonesia’s nickel processing sector before Chinese dominance becomes entrenched. The visit reflects India’s broader Act East Policy, which aligns with Indonesia’s maritime ambitions, as seen in the development of Sabang port in Aceh province.
