India in sweet spot, can grow at good pace: Jaitley

With the country expected to get a good amount of rainfall in the current year, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday that India is in a sweet spot and can grow at a healthy pace in 2016-17.

“India is in a sweet spot. The 7.6 per cent growth that we achieved was in a situation when global growth was slow and we had two years of deficient rainfall…this year it seems that we will have good rainfall…that is why despite the challenges in the global economy, there are sings that India can grow at a good pace,” Jaitley said while addressing the National Conclave on Mines & Minerals in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

Jaitley also said that the while the mining sector in India and around the world has faced challenges of low prices, higher economic growth will require more mineral resources. “The mining industry has been going through a phase of low prices, but the cycle would soon change. Industrialists must realise what they invest today will pay dividends to both the country and the state in the coming years,” he said.

The Finance Minister also inaugurated 5 pilot projects of the Chhattisgarh state government to be implemented under Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY).

The PMKKKY is a scheme which requires miners to contribute to the District Mineral Fund which is then used to implement various developmental and welfare projects in mining affected areas that compliment existing schemes of the Central and State Government, minimize adverse impact of mining on environment, health and socio-economics of the people in the districts and ensure long term sustainable livelihood for affected people.

Jaitley said such schemes highlight the impact of mining sector on the economy and it has paved the way for employment generation, development of mining affected areas and welfare of people living in such areas.

Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar urged all stakeholders to work together to increase the share of share of mining in the GDP from 2.4 per cent to 6 per cent.

The industry expressed home that with the new policies for mining in place, the sector can meet the target set by the Minister. “Well, I think at least the policies are in place now because transparency is there in a very big way. I am glad that the exploration policy was announced as that was a gap earlier. So hopefully, there will be more exploration and we can capitalise on that,” said T V Narendran, Managing Director of Tata Steel who was also attending the event.

Meanwhile, Tomar said that after a contraction in the mining sector in 2012-13 and 2013-14, the Ministry’s initiatives have helped in a 9 per cent growth in production of major and minor minerals. “Already 7 mineral blocks have been successfully auctioned out of a total of 55 that were notified for auctions. These have already raised more than Rs 13,000 crore for the state governments over the course of the mine life. There were no bids in 17 blocks and another 31 blocks will be auctioned soon,” the Minister said.

The reporter was in Raipur on an invitation from the Ministry of Mines

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