State-controlled NTPC has issued a consultant tender to identify overseas uranium assets in Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan and South Africa as it seeks to secure fuel for planned nuclear expansion. The company plans to invest in mines to support about 30 gigawatt (GW) of new nuclear capacity over the next two decades and intends to build roughly 30 per cent of the national 100 GW target for 2047. Bids for the consultancy were invited with a July 16 deadline.

The move follows legislation enacted in December that removed a long standing state monopoly on atomic power generation and opened the sector to private participation while altering liability provisions that had previously deterred investors. NTPC said that limited domestic mining reserves and the scale of planned capacity addition require overseas exploration and acquisition of uranium assets. At present India relies principally on Uranium Corporation of India for domestic output, with the country’s operative mines concentrated in Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

New Delhi has been diversifying external supplies, having agreed to import uranium from Australia and purchasing material from Uzbekistan and Russia, with shipments from Canadian miner Cameco scheduled to begin next year. Global uranium production is concentrated, with the five largest producers accounting for almost 70 per cent of output in 2024, and Kazakhstan’s NAC Kazatomprom was the top producer that year followed by Cameco. Securing long term supply chains is presented as essential to sustain the planned capacity additions.

The tender signals a more active role for NTPC in the nuclear fuel value chain and reflects a broader policy objective to decarbonise an economy still dependent on coal. Observers note that overseas acquisitions and supply agreements are likely to be integral to India’s ambitions to scale atomic power more than 11-fold by 2047. NTPC will proceed with consultant evaluations to identify viable mining targets and negotiate access arrangements.