NITI Aayog calls for a National Minor Mineral Policy

The Federation of Minor Minerals Industry (FEMMI), in collaboration with NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Mines, recently hosted the National Conference on Opportunities and Challenges in Minor Mineral Mining in Vijayawada. The conference was held to highlight issues that need to be addressed & bring minor minerals into national building as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat 2047.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog said that despite the Minor Minerals having more GDP and GVA the minor minerals sector doesn’t get enough focus and  that there should not be any distinction between major and minor minerals. He therefore advocated a national minor mineral policy, one nation one minor mineral policy and one Nation, one Mineral one royalty and the required changes in NITI Aayog were discussed in IMC and are in pipe line.

He advocated section 15, and 15(A) amendments in the MMDR act to facilitate uniform taxation and bring rationalization of minor mineral taxes.

In addition he said there should be single window policy to curtain delays in obtaining all the statutory clearances.

Dr Saraswat also advocated Export Promotion Council for Minor Minerals. DR. C.H.RAO and Mr P. Rama Krishna of FEMMI highlighted the crucial role played by the minor mineral sector in India’s infrastructure, construction, and manufacturing industries, supporting millions of livelihoods and generating significant state revenues.

However, they informed that the industry is facing major setbacks due to regulatory inconsistencies, excessive taxation, delayed environmental clearances, and policy paralysis.

Some of the points put forth by Dr. Rao included proposing a uniform minor mineral policy, Taxation Reforms: Evaluating the impact of competitive populism and excessive levies that burden the industry, Mineral Concession Policies: Debating the Auction vs.

First-Come-First-Serve (FCFS) models for leases, FastTracking Approvals: Simplifying environmental clearances and mineral exploration policies & Encouraging uniform policy implementation across all states. He also highlighted the cartelization in certain minerals and especially brought the issues related to the stoppage of permits to the Quartz, mica mines in Nellore sector.

He opined that bringing quartz, mica, feldspar, Barytes from minor to major is a right move by the centre.Stronger coordination between state and central authorities was also called for smoother policy execution.

Similarly Fast-tracked permit approvals, reducing bureaucratic delays and reviving dormant mines and Robust monitoring mechanisms were suggested to curb illegal mining and improve compliance.

FEMMI also presented the case for One Nation, One Mineral, One Tax agenda.