Indian government debates solutions to mining lease transferability concerns
KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – Differences of opinion have surfaced within the Indian government over the issue of mining lease transferability.
The Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act (MMDRA), promulgated in January, did not allow for the transfer of a mining lease from one company to another unless the lease was granted through a mineral auction.
This effectively prevented mergers and acquisitions in the mining and mineral sector, as companies would not be allowed to transfer their old mining leases to a buyer or merged entity.
The issue of the nontransferability of mining leases had been brought to the forefront after Lafarge India sold two cement units to Birla Corp Limited but was prevented from transferring the limestone mining lease to Birla.
The Mines Ministry had committed to resolving the issue, but a ministry official has indicated that there were differences of opinion about how to proceed.
The government had ruled out making any amendments to the MMDRA. However, while the Mines Ministry favoured enabling the transfer of mining leases through a government executive order, government’s legal department maintained that such an executive order would result in legal challenges to the MMDRA.
The official said that amending the MMRDA was the only viable option, but moving the legislation through Parliament would be protracted, considering the fractured nature of Indian politics and would expose government to criticism of not having thought through the new legislation.
A section of the ministry said it was widely acknowledged within the government that the logjam over lease transferability would seriously jeopardise the much-needed consolidation of the fragmented Indian mining industry.
Government’s efforts to woo global mining majors and introduce modern technology would also be negatively impacted should the nontransferability clause remain in place.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation