SAIL Chairman C S Verma, who is also heading CII's National Committee on Steel, today said he is seeking a "consensus" in the industry on the proposed mining bill that has created a furore over the scheme of 26 per cent profit-sharing with locals.
Verma, the head of country's largest steel producer SAIL, which has captive iron ore and coking coal mines to run its operations, said he is working towards collating industry's views and aims to present it to the government before a final decision on the proposed legislation is taken.
"We are aware of the government's objective of benefiting the displaced. In that framework, we are discussing various issues -- is the levy too high, how will it be implemented, modalities of the payment, whether such practices are going on in other countries like Australia, Brazil, etc.
"If we reach a consensus on these issues and there are appropriate suggestions, definitely, we will place it before the government," Verma told PTI after chairing a meet of the CII committee.
In the meeting, which CII said was attended by different stakeholders of the industry, members also raised issues regarding the mode of such a payout, if the proposal is implemented.
"We meet our captive requirement from the mines. We do not sell the mineral in the market, we don't make any profit on that. We are discussing various modalities of such a payment," he added.
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A 10-member ministerial panel headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived at a consensus last week on the new Mining Bill, which, among other things, makes it mandatory for firms to share 26 per cent of the profit from mining with project-affected people. The panel is to meet soon to clear the final draft of the Bill.
Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, who is a part of the GoM, has sought a "special consideration" for PSUs like SAIL and NMDC on profit-sharing, a proposal termed by industrialist- turned politician Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Steel and Power as discriminatory. The firm has also termed the proposed 26 per profit-sharing regime to be too high.
Besides Jindal, the Tatas have also criticised the proposed levy and asked the government not to charge it as a separate tax, saying that social obligation is part of the operating cost of the company.
However, Mines Secretary S Vijay Kumar maintained that the Bill will be finalised "based on the discussion of the Group of Ministers (GoM)", which is understood to have not talked about giving concessions to PSUs in profit-sharing.
The new Bill, which seeks to expedite the grant of mining rights in a transparent manner, aims at attracting more investments in the sector from industries like steel.