The passage of amendment in the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act which allows the transfer of captive mines of a company in case of mergers and acquisitions remains a doubt in the current session of Parliament.
“In principle, I am in favour of transferability of captive mines of in case of mergers and acquisitions. State Bank of India also wrote to us asking for the same. But, while we have completed the work, it is yet to be taken up by the Cabinet and only after Cabinet approves can it be tabled in Parliament. I cannot say whether it will be cleared in the Budget Session,” said Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Steel and Mines on Tuesday.
The MMDR Act, which was amended in 2015, permitted fresh mining leases to be given only through the auction route. This led to several merger and acquisitions pending including big ticket deals like UltraTech’s proposed takeover of Jaypee group’s cement units in Madhya Pradesh and Lafarge’s plan of selling two of its cement units to Birla Cement.