India's mineral production rises 22% in September, says ministry

The index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector for September stood at 95.1, which was 22.3 per cent higher as compared to the year-ago month, the mines ministry said on Thursday.

The cumulative growth for the April-September period over the corresponding period of the previous year has decreased 15.2 per cent, the ministry said in a statement.

The production level of important minerals in September 2021 stood at 518 lakh tonnes for coal, 35 lakh tonnes for lignite, 24 lakh tonnes for petroleum (crude), and 14,36,000 tonnes for bauxite, among others, it said.

"The production of important minerals showing positive growth during September 2021 over September 2020 includes: Chromite (152.4 per cent), magnesite (66.8 per cent), lignite (48 per cent), gold (11.5 per cent), coal (8.3 per cent) and iron ore (3.4 per cent)," it said.

The production of other important minerals showing negative growth includes diamond, phosphorite, bauxite and petroleum (crude), it added.