Bolivia, known to have the largest reserves of Lithium, is all set to become a major partner for providing metal—used in making batteries of electric vehicles, laptops and smartphones—to India.

This forms an important part of Indian govt's policy to have electric vehicles rolling in the country by 2030 as a measure to promote environment-friendly practises.

Under the FAME India policy (Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles), India’s plans to have at least 30% of its vehicles run on electric batteries by 2030.

This comes in the back of the 3-day visit of President Ram Nath Kovind's to the country.

The India Bolivia Joint statement at the end of the visit said both countries "Agreed to forge a mutually beneficial partnership to facilitate Bolivian supplies of lithium Carbonate to India and foster joint ventures for Lithium battery/cell production plants in India."

The country holds more than 40% of known reserves of Lithium, most of it in Salar de Uyuni. Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat rich in Lithium. A salt flat is geologically is a large ground covered with salt and minerals.

A delegation from Khanij Bidesh India Limited visited Lithium Mining areas especially Salar de Uyuni of the South American country. Khanij Bidesh India is a joint venture of 3 mining PSUs under India's Mines ministry.

Both India & Bolivia agreed to facilitate commercialization of Lithium Carbonate and Potassium Chloride produced by Bolivia's state-owned company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos Corporación (YLB - Corporación).

New Delhi has also proposed a follow-up visit to Bolivia by a delegation from National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage of India for taking forward the cooperation in the area of battery storage solutions.

8 MoUs were signed during the visit of President Kovind to Bolivia from March 28 to 30. Bilateral trade grew by 205% between both the countries to reach $772 million during Financial Year 2017-18.