FICCI has welcomed the decision of cabinet bringing in a major reform by promulgating Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020. The ordinance, which was approved by a committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will ease rules for auctioning coal mines to open up to all sectors and will allow auction of 46 iron ore and other mines before March 31, 2020.
This decision will do away with the leeway provided to only steel, power and coal washeries and open the commercial coal mining bidding for all the firms. The Cabinet decision will also do away with end-use restrictions of the mining blocks and pave the way for the first leg commercial coal auctions within this fiscal, according to Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, FICCI. The move is expected to provide a big push towards efforts for auctioning of coal blocks for commercial sale. It will help attract investments from Indian and global corporates. This is also a major step towards realizing the Government's target to completely stop coal imports by power plants by 2024.
After Supreme Court cancelled 214 coal blocks in 2014, only 29 were auctioned due to end-user restrictions. The amendments will remove these restrictions and will also improve the ease of doing business in the country.
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