India expects to woo 1 trillion rupees (US$15 billion) of investment over five years to double mining output and cut mineral imports.
The government’s goal is to fast-track exploration, including upfront payments for discovered deposits when the mines are auctioned, Minister of Mines Piyush Goyal said in an interview.
The administration will invite foreign companies to participate, he said, while acknowledging challenges such as land acquisition and environmental hurdles.
“We’re working to change the rules of the game from doing small amounts of exploration in an incremental fashion to doing it on a fast-track, one-shot, big-picture way,” Goyal, 52, said on Saturday in New Delhi.
There’s “easily” scope to pour 50 billion rupees into the search for deposits, he said.
The world’s fastest-growing major economy will need increasing supplies of everything from iron ore to coal to achieve Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s objective of faster development powered by more manufacturing.
Rio Tinto Group and steelmaker POSCO are among foreign companies that have put Indian plans on hold because of red tape and difficulties in acquiring land, an indication of the challenges Goyal’s agenda faces.
India last year embraced competitive auctions as the best long-term approach to resource allocation after bruising corruption scandals over discretionary or free allotments.
The nation auctions exploration and mining rights.
Officials earlier had worked out a policy of paying explorers a royalty over the life of a mine, rather than upfront, after critics said there was not enough incentive for companies to scour for minerals.
Goyal, who is energy minister and added mining to his portfolio when Modi reshuffled his Cabinet last month, said mineral exploration in India is “nascent.”
He recommended that overseas explorers and miners consider ventures with local partners — and install largely Indian management — to increase their chances of success in the US$2 trillion economy.
The minister said he is assessing the minerals being imported by India to focus the country’s exploration efforts.
Imports of iron ore, for instance, may amount to about 9 million tonnes this year, according to the CRU Group, a commodities researcher.
Environmentalists have resisted an effort by Vedanta Ltd to mine the mineral at Niyamgiri in the eastern state of Odisha.
Only about 13 percent of 575,000km2 with geological potential in India has been explored in detail so far, with minimal private-sector involvement, according to the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries.
“It doesn’t make sense to import what we already have in our country,” said Seshagiri Rao, joint managing director at Mumbai-based JSW Steel Ltd. “Raising domestic output will put pressure on prices of the commodity and make it more affordable for users.”
Rio Tinto Group on Aug. 22 said it was shutting a top-class diamond deposit in India — more than a decade after its discovery — as part of cost cutting. Delays in green permits stymied development of the project.
The company subsequently said it will seek to source services and equipment from the South Asian nation, and offered voluntary severance to 300 employees.
One of India’s priorities is to attract the top technology used by overseas companies, Goyal said.
The administration will respect the environment, he said.
“The wealth is below the ground,” Goyal said. “That is true wealth.”
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last