NTPC, India’s largest state-owned power producer, has launched an international tender to identify and acquire uranium mines overseas. The goal is to secure the fuel needed to power the 30 GW of nuclear capacity the company intends to build by 2047. Bids from prospective consultants are due by July 16.
The tender calls for a specialized consultant to map global acquisition opportunities in key mining markets: Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, and South Africa are among the target countries explicitly named in the tender documents. The consultant will be tasked with assessing the full value chain — from greenfield projects to operating mines — before conducting technical and commercial due diligence on shortlisted assets. NTPC will independently determine its annual uranium requirements for extraction and import from any future mine acquisitions.
The rationale is straightforward: India’s domestic uranium reserves are limited. The country currently relies almost entirely on the Uranium Corporation of India, its sole domestic producer, which mines the ore primarily in the states of Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. That capacity falls well short of what would be needed to fuel a nuclear program of the scale New Delhi has set for itself. India has already been diversifying its foreign supply sources — a uranium import deal with Australia was signed this week during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Melbourne — and the country also purchases uranium from Uzbekistan and Russia. Supplies from Canadian producer Cameco are expected to begin in 2027.
To manage its nuclear projects independently, NTPC has established a dedicated subsidiary: NTPC Parmanu Urja Nigam Limited (NPUNL). This entity will lead investments in the sector, including through international partnerships. Potential technology partners already in discussions include EDF, Holtec International, and General Electric, with talks underway on the deployment of small modular reactors. The overall plan involves an investment of approximately $62 billion through 2044. NTPC is also developing plants in joint ventures with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and submitted its first independent feasibility study to the Department of Atomic Energy in May 2026.
The regulatory landscape has shifted significantly. In December 2025, the Indian parliament passed the SHANTI Act, a landmark law that ended the state monopoly on nuclear power generation, opening the sector to private operators and reforming supplier liability rules — a long-standing barrier to foreign investment. The government has set a target of 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047, up from the current installed base of roughly 8.8 GW. NTPC aims to account for 30% of that target on its own.
If NTPC succeeds in closing its first mine acquisitions in the coming years, India will be able to position itself in the global uranium market not merely as a buyer, but as a vertically integrated player across the nuclear fuel supply chain. That shift would reinforce the country’s energy independence and strengthen the credibility of its entire nuclear program in the eyes of potential technology partners and international investors.
