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Catalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are at the heart of water oxidation reactions. Despite continuous efforts, the development of OER/HER electrocatalysts with high activity at low cost remains a big challenge. Herein, we report a composite material consisting of Li 1.05 Ni 0.5 Mn 1.5 O 4 , Li 1.05 Ni 0.5 La 0.10 Mn 1.40 O 4 , and Li 1.05 Ni 0.5 Nd 0.10 Mn 1.40 O 4 as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for OER and HER applications. Though the catalyst has a modest activity for HER, it exhibits high OER activity thereby making it a better nonprecious electrocatalyst for both OER and HER. The catalytic activity arises from the synergetic effects between LNM-La and LNM-Nd by a facile route that shows excellent and durable bifunctional catalytic activity for OER and HER in the alkaline medium developed. The LNM, LNM-La, and, LNM-Nd displayed current densities of 2.17 V, 1.68 V, and 1.93 V vs. RHE at 10 mA cm -2 respectively. The Tafel slope values obtained for LNM, LNM-La, and LNM-Nd are about 419 mV dec -1 , 118 mV dec -1 , and 378 mV dec -1 respectively. These results indicate the superior electrocatalytic activity of LNM-La with facile OER kinetics., Competing Interests: The authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)