In a historic feat, India set to secure 2nd Polymetallic Sulphides contract; becomes 1st country to be designated as ‘pioneer investor’

New Delhi: India is set to join the elite club of a handful of countries in the world, affiliated with the International Seabed Authority (ISA), to secure two active contracts for Polymetallic Sulphides (PMS).

Earlier, India held a 2016 PMS contract for 10,000 sq. km in the South-West Indian Ocean Ridge. The new 2025 contract for the Carlsberg Ridge in the Indian Ocean, covering another 10,000 sq. km, marks the first time India expands into a second PMS block, a move described by officials as “strategically unprecedented.”

According to the contract accessed by Millennium Post, the agreement grants India exclusive rights for 15 years to the Carlsberg Ridge, a promising site for deep-sea minerals such as copper, nickel, cobalt, and rare metals. “Through this, India will achieve the distinction in the ISA’s history to hold two PMS contracts simultaneously,” a senior Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) official confirmed.

The agreement will be formally signed on September 15, 2025, at MoES headquarters in New Delhi, during the visit of ISA Secretary-General Leticia Reis de Carvalho. The Cabinet has already approved the pact, which MoES will operationalise through its nodal agency, the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Goa, in collaboration with national institutes. Meanwhile, India is also the first country to be designated as a pioneer investor.

The signing coincides with another first: India will host the 8th Annual Contractors’ Meeting of the ISA in Goa from September 18–20, 2025, marking the Authority’s 30th anniversary. “This will allow India not only to showcase its scientific capacity but also to shape policy discussions on sustainable seabed exploration,” said a senior official.

The move carries both scientific and geopolitical significance. As per the MoU, the contract will “establish India’s strategic importance in the Indian Ocean” and strengthen its standing against other contractors such as China, Germany, and Korea. By gaining exclusive rights in two mineral-rich ridges, India secures a unique advantage in the governance of seabed resources under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

India’s association with seabed exploration is a longstanding one. Recognised in 1987 as a Pioneer Investor, India was allotted 1.5 lakh sq. km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. A 2002 contract for Polymetallic Nodules (PMN) granted exploration rights over 75,000 square kilometres, which were subsequently extended in 2017 and 2022. The 2016 PMS contract in the Rodriguez Triple Junction further expanded India’s footprint. With the Carlsberg Ridge pact, India’s seabed exploration network now spans across three different basins in the Indian Ocean.