Miners seek tax rationalisation as Covid mutes demand for minerals

The mining sector is rooting for a uniform tax subsuming all levies and capped at 40 per cent

At a time when the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has severely impacted the demand for minerals in the country, miners are seeking a rationalisation of the steep duty currently levied on mining.

Mining is easily the most taxed activity in India when compared with other resource rich nations like Brazil, Australia, Chile or South Africa. The effective tax rate (ETR) on mining in the country is a cocktail of levies such as royalty, District Mineral Foundation (DMF), National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) and other taxes and comes to 60-65 per cent depending on the route of allocation of minerals - discretionary