Chara Technologies Puts India’s Rare-Earth-Free Motor Technology on the BRICS Stage

An Indian technology designed to reduce electric mobility’s dependence on rare-earth permanent magnets is gaining international visibility at the BRICS deep-tech showcase in New Delhi, with Bengaluru-based Chara Technologies highlighting its indigenous rare-earth-free electric motor platform.

Chara, part of the Bharat Innovates deep-tech cohort, has developed synchronous-reluctance motors ranging from 8 kW to 30 kW using materials that can be sourced domestically, eliminating the need for rare-earth permanent magnets traditionally used in many high-performance electric motors.

The technology is particularly significant for India because rare-earth magnet availability has emerged as a strategic vulnerability for electric vehicles, industrial machinery, renewable energy systems and several advanced technology sectors.

Electric Motors Without Rare-Earth Magnets

Most high-performance permanent-magnet motors used in electric vehicles rely on magnets containing rare-earth elements such as neodymium and praseodymium.

Chara has taken a different approach.

Its motors use a synchronous reluctance motor, or SynRM, architecture, which generates torque through differences in magnetic reluctance within the rotor rather than relying on permanent rare-earth magnets.

The result is an electric drive platform designed to avoid the supply risk and price volatility associated with rare-earth magnets.

Bharat Innovates describes Chara’s technology as a proprietary platform of 8–30 kW rare-earth-free motors, accompanied by matching electronic controllers and proprietary drive-control firmware.

Motor and Controller Developed Together

Chara’s approach extends beyond the electric motor itself.

The company has developed matching controllers incorporating its own Drive Control Firmware, including real-time flux estimation and adaptive efficiency optimisation.

This integrated approach allows the motor, power electronics and control algorithms to be engineered as a single propulsion system rather than as separate components.

The company also handles motor design, production, testing and integration, giving it control across much of the technology stack.

According to Bharat Innovates, the platform has received certification from both ARAI — the Automotive Research Association of India — and ICAT, the International Centre for Automotive Technology.

That is significant because moving from a prototype motor to a certified automotive system is an important step towards commercial deployment.

More Than 70 Active Customers

Bharat Innovates lists more than 70 active customers for Chara Technologies and says the company has raised approximately US$12 million.

It also lists eight patents associated with the company’s technology portfolio.

The company’s immediate opportunity lies in electric mobility, where motors in the 8–30 kW range can have applications across several light-vehicle and commercial mobility platforms.

However, rare-earth-free motor architectures also have wider potential in industrial equipment, pumps, machinery and other applications where reliable and efficient electric drives are required.

Why Rare-Earth-Free Motors Matter to India

The strategic significance of Chara’s technology becomes clearer when viewed against India’s rare-earth magnet supply chain.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries said in July 2026 that although India possesses significant rare-earth resources and has capabilities in mining, separation and oxide refining, the country lacks sufficient industrial-scale capacity for converting those materials into metals, alloys and finished magnets.

As a consequence, India currently imports all of its sintered NdFeB rare-earth permanent-magnet requirement for downstream applications.

Earlier government data showed that China accounted for roughly 85–90% of India’s permanent-magnet imports by quantity during 2022–25, highlighting the concentration risk within the supply chain.

Electric vehicles are particularly exposed.

The government estimates that India’s EV industry alone could require around 3,250 tonnes of rare-earth permanent magnets annually by 2030, while industrial motors could require another 500 tonnes. Total domestic demand across sectors is projected at around 8,220 tonnes per year by 2030.

India Is Pursuing Two Solutions

India is responding to the challenge through two parallel strategies.

The first is to establish domestic manufacturing of rare-earth permanent magnets. In November 2025, the Union Cabinet approved a ₹7,280-crore scheme aimed at creating 6,000 tonnes per year of integrated sintered rare-earth permanent-magnet manufacturing capacity within India.

The second is to reduce the need for such magnets altogether.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries has explicitly identified the development of alternative rare-earth-free motor technologies as part of India’s strategy to reduce the automotive industry’s dependence on imported magnets.

It is in this second category that Chara Technologies becomes especially interesting.

Rather than replacing an imported magnet with an Indian-made magnet, its SynRM architecture seeks to remove the permanent magnet from the motor design itself.

From Supply-Chain Vulnerability to Indian Engineering

Rare-earth-free motors are not simply an environmental technology. They have increasingly become a matter of industrial resilience and strategic-material security.

Permanent magnets are essential to electric mobility, wind energy, electronics and advanced industrial equipment. Their geographically concentrated production means restrictions, geopolitical disruptions or sudden price changes can quickly affect manufacturers elsewhere.

A motor that can deliver useful performance without those magnets provides manufacturers with an alternative engineering pathway.

For India, that could become particularly valuable as electric-vehicle production expands and domestic demand for high-performance motors rises.

Indian Deep Tech on the BRICS Stage

The BRICS-linked Bharat Innovates showcase gives technologies such as Chara’s access to an international audience of industrial companies, investors and technology partners.

Contemporary reporting on the September 11 showcase specifically identifies rare-earth-free electric motors among the Indian deep-tech technologies being presented alongside rapid cervical-cancer screening and India’s 64-qubit quantum-computing capabilities.

For Chara Technologies, the opportunity is therefore larger than selling an electric motor.

Its platform addresses one of the central engineering questions facing the global transition to electrification: can high-performance electric machines be manufactured at scale without depending on a highly concentrated rare-earth magnet supply chain?

By developing certified, Indian-made synchronous-reluctance motors and controllers, Chara is demonstrating one possible answer — using motor design, power electronics and software to substitute engineering innovation for strategic-material dependence.

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