CII seeks infrastructure status for mining sector

Industry body, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has asked the government to declare mining as a strategic and infrastructure sector. CII stated that mining sector is critical for the manufacturing growth of the country and plays an important role in creating employment, preventing drain of valuable forex and propelling growth in some of the most backward states.   The CII has also sought for a reduction in the role of geographical information systems (GIS) as an explorer. GIS should focus on steps which can create an environment to attract high exploration activities in the country. Industry body further highlighted that critical step such as allowing transfer of mining licences from one company to another seamlessly should be taken with immediate effect. Capacity building within state machinery should be expedited to boost the Indian mining sector. Regarding the proposed changes in sector imports norms, CII stressed that Indian mining sector is one of the most heavily taxed in the world and any attempts to levy further imposts must be taken after analyzing its impact on sector. Over the last couple of years, India mining sector has been struggling with slowdown. High borrowing cost and weak investment were the leading factors impacting the sector growth due to policy uncertainty. India mining sector witnessed a contraction of 1.4% at 1.06 lakh crore in FY 14 as against 2.2% de-growth in the FY13.