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Ban on mineral exports sought
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New Delhi
Feb. 21
Industry chamber Assocham has sought discontinuation of policies that allow exports of minerals and raw materials without any value addition.
In a communication to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Finance and Planning Commission, the Chamber has asked for an immediate ban on mineral exports to help domestic industry make finished products at competitive rates and for saving mineral wealth of the country.
As per the existing mineral policy, Government gets royalties between Rs 10 and Rs 27 per tonne of iron ore extracted depending upon grades. During 2005-06, the contribution from mining companies to the national exchequer was around Rs 300 crore whereas the Government earned around Rs 15,000 crore from the steel sector for the same period.
This included excise duty, sales tax/VAT and the applicable royalty on iron ore. The differential speaks of the fact that few mining companies held by the private sector are accumulating personal wealth by means of profiteering without any benefit to the Government and to the people, the chamber argues.
The Hoda Committee had set a target of 100 million tonnes of iron ore export by the year 2020 which had been achieved in the current financial year itself and the iron ore export is growing at an average of over 15 - 20 per cent for the last two to three years.
On the other hand, the steel imports had grown over 70 per cent in 2005-06 from 42 per cent in 2004-05, according to the chamber.
Therefore, India will become a dumping ground for China and its dependence on countries such as China, Brazil and Australia will increase enormously, the chamber warned.
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