New Delhi: The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has stepped up efforts under the Deep Ocean Mission (DoM) to explore mineral resources in the Indian Ocean, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The initiative, aimed at enhancing India’s energy security and advancing marine research, involves two exploration contracts with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for the Central Indian Ocean Basin and the Indian Ocean Ridge.
Minister of State for Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said India’s first exploration contract, signed in 2002, covers polymetallic nodules across 75,000 sq km of the Central Indian Ocean Basin. A second contract, signed in 2016, permits the exploration of polymetallic sulphides (PMS) across 10,000 square kilometres along the Indian Ocean Ridge. These seabed resources are rich in metals such as copper, nickel, cobalt, zinc, silver, and gold. Singh clarified that current ISA regulations limit activities to the exploration stage, covering surveys, environmental assessments, technology development, and metallurgical extraction.
Highlighting recent achievements, Singh said India has developed manned submersible technology, demonstrated the collection of over 100 kg of cobalt-rich polymetallic nodules from a depth of 1,173 metres in the Andaman Sea in 2024, and identified two active hydrothermal vent fields in the Central Indian Ocean. Additionally, vulnerability maps of coastal areas facing climate change threats have been prepared.
The MoES has also strengthened biodiversity research through the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi, which conducted six research cruises in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. These expeditions catalogued around 1,300 deep-sea organisms, carried out genomic analyses, and discovered 23 new species. Similarly, the National Centre of Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa, identified four hydrothermal vent fields and two mineralised PMS zones through surveys in the Central and Southwest Indian Ridges.
On India’s upcoming manned submersible project, Singh confirmed that the design and integration of the MATSYA-6000—a human-occupied vehicle capable of carrying three persons to a depth of 6,000 metres—has been completed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai. The submersible successfully underwent wet harbour trials earlier this year at L&T Shipbuilding Facility in Katupalli, Tamil Nadu. It will be equipped with scientific payloads for studying mineral resources, biodiversity, and deep-sea ecosystems.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address on August 15, also announced the National Deep Water Exploration Mission, describing it as a modern-day “Samudra Manthan” to secure India’s future energy needs through exploration of deep-sea reserves of oil and gas.