India - Kazakhstan: Uranium And Nuclear Energy Trade - IMPRI Impact And Policy Research Institute

Policy Update
Tuba Atha

Image source- Multidimensional Cooperation in India-Kazakhstan Relations — ANKASAM | Ankara Center for Crisis and Policy Studies

Background

The relations between India and Kazakhstan are ancient and historical, going back more than 2,000 years. India was one of the first countries to recognize the independence of Kazakhstan in February 1992. Kazakhstan is India’s largest trade and investment partner in Central Asia. The total bilateral trade between the countries has more than doubled to $2.4 billion last year from $1.2 billion in 2018. This cooperation covers a wide range of areas in the economic, cultural, and political spheres, supported by a foundation of historical ties.

The Central Asian country is the biggest producer of uranium, having 14% of the world’s uranium resources, and in 2024 produced about 23,270 tU. In 2009, it became the world’s leading uranium producer, with almost 28% of world production. Today, Kazakhstan produces over 40% of the world’s uranium (world-nuclear.org). It caters to almost 90 percent of India’s uranium requirements.

The signing of – Indo-Kazakhstan Nuclear Co-operation Agreement is one of the historic agreements between India and the Central Asian Republic. During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh‘s visit to Astana on 18th April 2011, a deal was struck between Manmohan Singh and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev for the supply of uranium to India and a comprehensive co-operation in the civil nuclear energy programme. This agreement is one of the most important agreements that encourages bilateral trade and transactions between the two countries.

Kazakhstan’s state-owned enterprises signed multiple agreements with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and the Department of Atomic Energy to supply uranium to India over the years. New Delhi also recently expressed interest in delivering nuclear fuel and components during the 13th meeting of the Indo-Kazakhstan intergovernmental commission (April 2023).

Functioning

Kazatomprom is Kazakhstan’s national nuclear company and the world’s largest producer of natural uranium, with priority access to one of the world’s largest resource bases. Out of Kazakhstan’s 13 uranium mining projects, three are wholly-owned by Kazatomprom and 10 are joint ventures with foreign equity holders. In 2024, Kazatomprom’s share of production was 12,286 tU. In January 2009, Kazatomprom signed an agreement with India’s NPCIL to supply 2100 tonnes of uranium to India and undertake a feasibility study on building Indian PHWR reactors in Kazakhstan.

NPCIL said that it represented “a mutual commitment to begin thorough discussions on a long-term strategic relationship.” In July 2015, Kazatomprom signed an agreement with India’s Department of Atomic Energy to supply 5000 tU to India over the period 2015-2019.

India and Kazakhstan, on 8 July 2024, signed five agreements during the two-day visit of the Prime Minister to Kazakhstan. One is a long-term contract between the Department of Atomic Energy, India, and KazAtomProm for the sale and purchase of natural uranium concentrates. Kazatomprom and India have discussed further prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, Trend reports. (15 February, 2025).

Revival of Indo-Kazakhstan Nuclear Co-operation Agreement

India and Kazakhstan revived the nuclear co-operation agreement on 8th July 2015 during the Prime Minister Mr Modi’s visit to Kazakhstan. In an agreement signed between the Indian Prime Minister and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev for the continuous supply of Uranium with 5000 tons of uranium to India during 2015-19. The uranium signed is more promising than the hydrocarbon sector as it has allowed India to get more than twofold the size of uranium it received under the previous phase contract (2009–2014).

A meeting took place between the Chairman of the Board of Kazatomprom, Meyirzhan Yusupov, and the Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan, Nagendra Prasad, in 2023. The parties discussed various aspects of cooperation in the nuclear industry.

Performance and Impact

In the last ten years, Kazakhstan has supplied 9,000 tonnes of uranium. Over the past three years, India has imported a total of 4557.67 tU from Kazatomprom (World Nuclear News, 2022). Importantly, Kazakhstan has expressed keen interest in putting up small nuclear reactors with the capacity of 220 MW with the Indian help (The Indian Express, 2017).

The Indo-Kazakhstan nuclear cooperation agreement provides a legal structure for the mutually beneficial uses of nuclear energy, which includes the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, comprises the use of nuclear energy in fuel supply, nuclear medicine, and use of nuclear radiation for health care, exploration, and joint mining of uranium, design, construction and operation of joint nuclear power plants. The most important aspect of this deal was the exchange of scientific and research information. This nuclear agreement was most important owing to the fact that this agreement opened up avenues for India in Kazakhstan, and there was a quantum jump in Indo-Kazakhstan trade.

Moreover, Kazakhstan actively supported India for an unconditional waiver for international commerce in civil nuclear energy in 2009 at the negotiations at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) (Sajjanhar, 2013). Therefore, Kazakhstan does not replace Russia but supplements it, giving India fuel diversity and strategic autonomy. By locking long-term uranium contracts with Kazakhstan, India insulates its nuclear programme from global shocks.

Emerging issues

There are some of the major impediments in the India-Kazakhstan relations, like the non-availability of hard currency and the lack of conversion facilities in India as well as in Kazakhstan. Additionally, the language barrier is also creating hurdles for Indians who went there in Kazakhstan as they are not able to talk because most of the Kazakhstani people know only Russian and the Kazakh language. Moreover, when compared to China, which imports almost 55% of Kazakh Uranium, the position of India looks minuscule. New Delhi needs to work aggressively on this front, and it can count on its friendship with Moscow to manoeuvre space to control more Kazakh uranium.

Conclusion

Given its current rate of consumption, India’s energy consumption is set to grow 4.2% a year by 2035 (BP, 2018).’Renewables will rise by 712%, nuclear by 317%, and hydro by 97% by 2035 (ETA, 2018). By 2047, India wants 10 percent of its total electricity generation capacity of nearly 1,000 GW to be nuclear-based. The only options before India in such a scenario seem to of both diversification of sources and diversification of resources. India should pursue a renewables-first grid, anchored by 8–10% nuclear by 2050, with Kazakhstan’s uranium as the bedrock of stability in its Net Zero journey (ABC Research, 2025).

Way forward

Though Kazakhstan is a major supplier of uranium, the supply is fraught with challenges like market shifts, geopolitics, and supply constraints. Some of the potential solutions could be a secure, predictable, long-term uranium supply to meet India’s accelerated reactor build-out; stable commercial terms (pricing, delivery cadence, dispute resolution) while protecting strategic autonomy; building value-chain cooperation (from mining, conversion to fuel fabrication, and R&D) so that India can capture more downstream value. Moreover, maintain full IAEA safeguards / non-proliferation compliance and strong transport & environmental safeguards.

References

1. India, Kazakhstan signed five Agreements including a contract for supply of uranium. (2024, July 9). C4learn.

2. Kazakhstan, India explore mutually beneficial cooperation in nuclear energy. (2025, February 15). Trend News Agency.

3. Chaudhury, D R. (2023, April 3). India’s Relations with Kazakhstan Are of Mutual Benefit. The Astana Times.

4. Uranium and Nuclear Power in Kazakhstan. (2025, June 19). World Nuclear Association.

5. Kazakhstan biggest supplier of uranium to India, new contract likely to be signed soon. (2023, August 31). Bizz Buzz.

6. Indian minister provides uranium, construction updates. (2022, April 5). World Nuclear News.

7. How India Can Secure Its Energy Future (2025–2070). (2025, September 19). ABC Live.

8. Goswami, S. (2025, June 16). India to quadruple uranium imports for nuclear energy mission. Money Control.

9. Sajjanhar, A. (2013). India-Kazakhstan relations: Challenges and opportunities. Indian Embassy in Kazakhstan.

10. Pradhan, R. (2022). India-Kazakhstan energy relations: Looking back and looking ahead. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 13(2), 103-118.

11. Singh, H. (2015). INDO-KAZAKHSTAN NUCLEAR PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT. Journal of Central Asian Studies, 22, 119-126.

About the contributor- Tuba Athar is a research intern at IMPRI. She is pursuing a PhD from the Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Acknowledgement- The author sincerely thanks Aasthaba Jadeja and other IMPRI fellows for their valuable contribution.

Disclaimer- All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.