Centre to introduce commercial mining in coal, govt monopoly to be removed

Announcing the fourth tranche of the government's Rs 20 lakh crore economic package, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced that commercial mining in the coal sector will be introduced and govt monopoly will be removed.

Asserting that a revenue sharing mechanism will be offered for commercial mining of coal instead of the regime of fixed rupees/tonne, the minister added that Rs 50,000 crore will be spent by the government for the evacuation of mined coal.

"Coal gasification and liquefication will be incentivised through rebate in revenue sharing," she said adding coal bed methane (CBM) production would also be encouraged. 

"Structural improvements will be made in the mining and mineral sector, 500 mining blocks will be an open and transparent auction, There will be provision for joint auction in the area of bauxite and coal," she said.

Sitharaman said that the fourth stimulus is focused on coal, minerals, defence production, civil aviation sector, power distribution companies in Union Territories, space sector and atomic energy sector.

"States are being ranked on investment attractiveness to compete for new investments," she said adding the "incentive schemes for the promotion of new champion sectors will be launched in sectors such as solar PV manufacturing and advanced cell battery storage." 

As many as 3,376 industrial parts/estates/SEZs in 5 lakh hectares have been mapped on Industrial Information System (IIS). All industrial parks will be ranked in 2020-21, she said.