India’s Mines Ministry announced on September 30 that it would launch an auction of two offshore mineral blocks in the Andaman Sea on October 1. The blocks are to be offered under composite licences. The ministry’s release and separate Reuters and Business Standard reports agree on the two-block plan and announced timetable.
The government says offshore minerals such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, copper and rare earth elements matter for electric mobility, renewable-energy equipment and electronics. Its stated aim is to attract exploration investment and technology. Those are policy objectives, not confirmed quantities of recoverable material in these particular blocks.
Reuters reported that an earlier auction, announced in November 2024 with 13 offshore blocks, was cancelled in December 2025 after repeated extensions failed to attract sufficient interest. That history provides context for the renewed plan; it is not a result of the new auction.
The latest primary material reviewed is the announcement. It does not establish a successful bidder, a licence award or the start of seabed extraction. Nor does this report treat an auction timetable as proof that all project-specific approvals have been obtained. Outcomes must be checked against subsequent official records.