India and Uzbekistan have announced a new multi-year uranium supply agreement, confirmed by Narendra Modi following talks in Tashkent with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The two sides elevated their bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, set a trade target of $5 billion by 2030, and entered the final stage of negotiations for a long-term contract covering concentrated natural uranium.
Indian Foreign Secretary Siby George stated that “the talks concluded positively” and that the formal signing of an agreement is expected “shortly.” The groundwork for this partnership is already well established: in January 2019, India and Uzbekistan had signed a contract with the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company for the delivery of 1,100 metric tonnes of uranium between 2022 and 2026. As of March 2025, Indian parliamentary data showed that 600 tonnes had already been delivered. The new agreement aims to renew and expand this cooperation beyond the expiry of the current contract.
The focus on Uzbekistan is no coincidence. The country is the world’s fifth-largest uranium producer, with estimated output of around 4,000 tonnes in 2024 — approximately 7% of global mine production. Reasonably assured recoverable resources exceed 40,000 tonnes, with an additional inferred resource base of nearly 50,000 tonnes. Uzbekistan represents a stable, geographically accessible supplier with well-established extraction capacity.
The agreement is part of a broader strategy. India currently has 8.78 GW of installed nuclear capacity and is targeting 22 GW by 2031–32, with the ultimate goal of 100 GW by 2047 — more than eleven times the current level. To power this expansion, New Delhi is building a diversified supplier network. In recent months, it has concluded a uranium export agreement with Australia and signed a contract worth approximately $2.6 billion with Canada’s Cameco for nearly 22 million pounds of uranium ore concentrate over nine years, with deliveries expected from 2027 to 2035. Uzbek supply adds to existing procurement channels from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Canada.
Beyond uranium, Modi’s visit to Tashkent yielded tangible outcomes across several areas: a memorandum on mineral and geological cooperation covering critical minerals, commitments on defence manufacturing, multimodal transport infrastructure, education, and tourism. Bilateral trade has already grown 33% over the past year, reaching $1.3 billion. The two governments are planning a dedicated working group to dismantle non-tariff barriers and explore a preferential free trade agreement.
The trajectory is clear. India is building its nuclear energy security deal by deal, deliberately avoiding dependence on any single supplier. Uzbekistan is cementing its role as a strategic player in the global uranium market while deepening ties with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. If the formal contract is signed on schedule, the partnership between the two countries could extend into reactor cooperation and fuel cycle technologies, making the energy bond between Tashkent and New Delhi an increasingly structural feature of the decade ahead.
