Simon India, on Thursday, signed an MoU with CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory to work on extracting rare earth elements from industrial waste, in a move aimed at strengthening India’s position in critical minerals and clean technologies.

The partnership brings together research and engineering. CSIR-NML will lead on process development and validation, while Simon India will focus on taking these technologies to industry scale. The idea is to move solutions from lab and pilot stages to full commercial use.

Rare earth elements are key to sectors such as clean energy, electronics, mobility and advanced manufacturing. But supply chains are still heavily concentrated globally. The collaboration looks to reduce that dependence by building local capacity to recover these materials from waste and secondary sources.

The focus will be on joint research, pilot testing, and scaling up processes. A joint steering committee will guide the work. The agreement also includes plans for skill building, industry-academia collaboration and technology transfer.

Athar Shahab, Chairman of Simon India, said the focus is not just on innovation but on making it work at scale. “India’s journey towards technological self-reliance will depend on our ability to industrialise innovation,” he said.

Aashutosh Aggarwal, CEO, said the company sees itself as a bridge between research and industry. He added that the partnership opens up opportunities in areas like rare earth recovery, where India can build a strong position.

Dr Sandip Ghosh Chowdhury, Director at CSIR-NML, said the tie-up will help move research beyond labs into real industrial use, creating impact for both industry and the country.

The agreement is valid for five years and includes a framework for joint intellectual property, covering ownership, licensing and commercial use.

The move also fits into a larger push towards circular economy practices, where industrial waste is seen as a resource. For India, it signals a shift from just developing technologies to also deploying them at scale.