China bans helium exports with immediate effect, exposing India's import dependence

China has imposed a temporary and immediate ban on helium exports, raising concerns over the global supply of a gas that high-tech and medical industries depend on. China imports over 80% of its own helium, so the ban is read as a crisis-management measure to preserve existing stockpiles for domestic sectors such as AI chip manufacturing and quantum computing.

India has no domestic supply to fall back on. How exposed it is, and whether any home-grown source can reduce that exposure, are the questions the ban raises.

Why the supply chain is fragile

Helium is a non-renewable resource. On Earth it is generated by the natural radioactive decay of heavy elements such as uranium and thorium deep in the crust, and over millions of years it migrates into natural gas reservoirs. It is extracted alongside natural gas where its concentration is at least 0.3% by volume.

China produces only about 1.6% of the world's helium. Production is concentrated mainly in the United States, Qatar and Russia, with Canada and Algeria also important suppliers. Restrictions on Russian exports, along with other geopolitical and logistical disruptions, have already tightened the market.

Qatar is a major supplier to Asia, and its shipments must pass through the Strait of Hormuz, so military tensions in West Asia threaten availability. Logistics are also time-sensitive. Helium is stored as a cryogenic liquid or compressed gas in specialised vacuum-jacketed stainless steel vessels, which China largely manufactures. If a shipment is delayed in transit, the helium undergoes "boil-off" and escapes into the atmosphere.

India's exposure

India is 100% import-dependent for helium, with over 50% of imports coming from Qatar. Healthcare, semiconductors, fibre optics and scientific research are therefore vulnerable to disruption. The March 2026 disruption at Qatar's Ras Laffan complex caused shortages and a 35-50% rise in helium prices in India.

Helium has the lowest boiling point of any element, at -269°C (4.2 K), and is chemically inert, non-flammable and highly thermally conductive. These properties underpin several uses:

• MRI scanners, where it cools magnets to keep them superconducting. A shortage raises diagnostic costs and delays cancer treatment.
• Chip fabrication, where it cools silicon wafers and provides a protective atmosphere. It is a bottleneck resource for the India Semiconductor Mission as the country seeks to set up commercial fabrication plants.
• Rocket propulsion, where it pressurises liquid propellant tanks and purges vapours from fuel lines. It matters for the cryogenic engines of ISRO's LVM3 and the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission.
• Quantum computing, where dilution refrigerators use it to cool qubits and prevent decoherence. The National Quantum Mission relies on this.
• Optical fibres, where it chills molten glass evenly as it is drawn. This is needed for BharatNet and 5G/6G rollouts.
• Leak testing, where it is the tracer gas for high-pressure vacuums in nuclear power plants, naval propulsion systems and defence equipment.

Domestic options

The most promising source is the Bakreshwar thermal springs in West Bengal, where released gases contain about 1.4% helium. The Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC), under the Department of Atomic Energy, has set up a pilot plant there to capture, purify and liquefy the helium.

The monazite sands of Kerala, rich in thorium and uranium, contain trapped helium, but extracting it commercially is highly capital-intensive. ONGC has been mandated to map natural gas fields, such as those in the Godavari and Mahanadi basins, for helium traces (ONGC helium mapping). Indian natural gas, however, generally has very low helium content compared with US or Qatari gas.