Budget 2020: Fimi pushes for waiver of 15% duty on bauxite exports

Non-plant grade bauxite has limited avenues of usage in India and thus it was mostly exported but the duty on its export hampered business

In the run up to the Budget for FY21, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi) has pitched for exempting 15 per cent duty on bauxite exports from the country.

While large capacity aluminium smelters have been commissioned to utilise metallurgical grade bauxite, non plant grade bauxite has limited avenues of usage. About 84 per cent of the country's bauxite resources are of metallurgical grade used mainly for alumina extraction.

Most of the resources are concentrated in the East Coast Bauxite deposits in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh followed by other states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

By