Govt sidesteps policy to issue licence to Raj marble firm

The government seems to have gone out of its way to favour a Rajasthan-based marble company and allowed it to import 60,000 tonnes of marble in the last two years even as hundreds of traders across the country have been denied licences due to a cap on imports.

RK Marble Group, the largest producer of marble in the world, has been importing about 30,000 tonnes of marble for the last two years. DNA learnt this from documents accessed under the RTI Act.

Importantly, there was no notification or advertisement of the policy under which this import was allowed. The matter came to light accidentally, when DNA —  using the RTI Act — sought copies of import licences issued by the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) under the known policy.

Replying to a separate RTI petition, the DGFT said: “No such procedure has been laid down. However, for considering any such request, on merits, the firm needs to have significant investment abroad in their 100% subsidiary mining unit which is in operation having significant production.”

The RTI reply said the “government of India promotes investment abroad for natural resources”.
Going by the DGFT’s records, the government probably believes only one establishment has achieved this objective.
For instance, the application of a Chennai-based company for a similar licence was rejected.

The company had applied for a licence to import marble from its own quarry in Vietnam. “We had applied for the licence on the lines of the one given to RK Marble a year earlier. But we did not get any response from the DGFT,” the proprietor of the company said.

The DGFT, however, refused to comment on the case. “We are making policy; we would not be able to respond to your questions,” the agency said.