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(Thanks to Umashankar babu for the tip.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Wall Street Journal.

India’s federal government has approved an increase in mining royalties for various minerals including iron ore, copper, zinc and lead, government officials said Wednesday.

Two mining ministry officials, who didn’t want to be named, told Dow Jones Newswires that India’s cabinet committee on economic affairs has approved the proposal for changes in royalties on minerals other than coal, and a formal notification with immediate effect is expected this week.

…  The change in rates will increase states’ annual revenue from royalties to 46.3 billion rupees ($968.6 million) from 22.88 billion rupees.

… The officials said the government will levy a 10% value-added or ad valorem royalty on iron ore mining.

For iron ore miners, the new royalty will mean switching to a tax regime under which they will be charged based on the market value of the minerals compared with the existing system of flat rates based on weight, the officials said.

At present, the government charges a fixed royalty of up to 27 rupees a metric ton on different grades of iron ore.

Iron ore spot prices in the local market may rise by about 10% in the near future, … said Rahul Baldota, …  But he added that iron ore producers in India, the world’s third-largest supplier of the commodity, will absorb the cost for exports in order to remain competitive.

…  India already charges value-added royalty rates for zinc, copper and lead, but the rates charged will now increase.

The government will charge an 8% royalty on zinc ore, up from 6.6% earlier, while the rate on copper will rise to 4.2% from 3.2%. The royalty on lead ore will go up to 7% from 5%.

On bauxite used for other than alumina and aluminum extraction and exports, a royalty of 25% will be charged. For use in alumina and aluminum extraction, the rate will be 0.5%. Previously, no royalties were charged.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

The Gitanjali Group, one of the oldest leading names in gems and jewellery, has proposed to set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the State. The group’s infrastructure arm, Gitanjali Infratech Limited (GIL), has approached Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to set up its eighth SEZ for gems and jewellery.

The company’s chief executive officer Ajit A Vaidya has requested the State Government to allocate land for the purpose. If allowed, it will be the first of its kind in the State, said an officer of the Industries Department. The Gitanjali Group is known for its jewellery brands, Nakshatra, Gili, Desire, Asmi, Sangini and D’dmas in both domestic and international markets. GIL’s existing seven SEZs are spread over Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

While the gross size of the Indian gem and jewellery industry is 20,889.21 million dollars, the country’s jewellery manufacturing is currently only a fraction thereof.

This is predominantly due to lack of availability of organised infrastructure, structured manufacturing and exporting environment, said Vaidya.

Therefore, setting up of more SEZs for this sector would promote export of the Indian products, he said.

The gems and jewellery sector, which is labour-intensive, currently generates more than 3 million jobs with the setting up of SEZs.

As there are more than 2 lakh workers from Orissa engaged in the diamond cutting and polishing industry in Surat, this will help them find jobs in their homeland, feels a senior official.

Following are excerpts from a report in New Indian Express.

Granite resources abound in State, but the potential is untapped due to lack of promotion and absence of a clear-cut policy.

Orissa has about 20 different colours of granite. Out of the five most-attractive (recognised) colour granite of the world, four are available in Orissa, lavender blue in Berhampur, ikon brown in Paralakhemundi, sweat green in Titilagarh and black in Jeypore vicinity.

In Berhampur, Nayagarh, Paralakhemundi and Balangir, granites of international standard are abundantly available.

Skilled labourers too abundantly available in Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Balasore districts.

As Rajasthan is best known for its marble industry, Orissa can carve a niche for itself in granite sector if a little care is taken by the Government to streamline it, analysts feel.

The existing granite industries in Orissa should be assured by the Steel and Mines department to get the raw materials sufficiently on priority basis. At present, the mine owners, mostly outsiders, are supplying only mining wastes.

Since Orissa’s colour granite is very attractive, the granite processing units in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are taking all quality raw blocks and selling that in the market after processing. In the absence of market linkage for finished products Orissa is losing out on revenue and scope for generating employment.

Traders have demanded that Government … open a granite park/growth centre in Berhampur. The rate of royalty on decorative stone block/granite stone block should be increased to Rs 1500 from the existing Rs 700 on the inter-state sales transactions. …

Tahtya reports that Chhatisgarh Futuristic Infrastructure Development Company (CFIDC) has floated a proposal to set up a Gems and Jewellery Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the state.

The company has come up with a proposal to set up a sector specific G&J SEZ at Bhubaneswar on a land of 150-200 hectare near the air port with an investment of Rs.250-Rs.300 crore.

Samaja also covers in its news.

News reports mention that Oriental Timex has acquired mining rights for decorative stones at village Potteru in Malkangiri district. Following is a quote from one of the reports.

The company acquired the said rights through a prospecting license dated Apr. 13, 2007, executed between the company and deputy director of mines, Koraput Circle Koraput, government of Orissa.

The decorative stone quarry is spread over an area of 10.279 hectares / 25.40 acres. The deposits in this quarry are of black colour granite stone.

The company said is in the process of complying with the terms and conditions of the prospecting lease.

Following is a collection of links that I earlier compiled under the heading “Orissa mining and industries.”

• Forcing Orissa and Jharkhand to remain poor
• Ideas for better revenue generation from Orissa’s minreals.
  • Ammending mining laws so as to get a share of profits from companies that mine Orissa’s minerals (“Odisha Mora, Khani Mora” Campaign By Dr. Jatish Mohanty)
    • A blog on this topic
    • Initial news reports: [newindpress:10/23/06],[Hindu:10/24/06]
    • A draft letter to the Prime minister
  • Requiring companies that lease mines to establish plants in Orissa that will use those mined ores. [Current Orissa govt policy]
  • Modifying the mechanism that is used to price iron ore rates. [Current rate for iron ores set by the central govt is often too low and changes ever so little that the mining and steel companies make lots of profit while Orissa gets peanuts.]
• Trying to understand the issue – a work-in-progress document.
• Open letter to the Tata’s (Sept 2, 2006)
  • A response to it by Mr. Dilu Panda (Sept 13, 2006)
  • Exchange with Mr. Dilu Panda during Sept 14-17 2006: He did not quite substantiate his claims. (Oct 22, 2006)
• Preferential grant of mining leases for Iron ore and manganeese: a report from an expert group appointed by the Govt. of India (7MB) (original)
  • Important page numbers: 223
• List of Orissa mining leases upto July 2005
  
• POSCO-Govt of Orissa MOU
• OMC press release on agreement with Vedanta, Oct 19 2004.
• Q & A presented to council of ministers on the agreement with Vedanta, Nov 29 2004.
• A news item on Tata’s mining leases
• A news item from Hindu on iron ore leases (see page 2) (original)
• A news item from Rediff on POSCO
• A news item from NavHindtimes on ore leases
• A news item from Economic Times: Orissa seeks Ad Valorem based royalty on mining.
  • What is Ad Valorem based royalty? What are other kinds of royalty in mining? (local copy)
• A news item from Business standard about Visa Steel and its struggle with Orissa.
• A news item on Jharkhand borrowing Orissa’s policies.
• A research paper on Steel & Orissa in Steelworld.
• Ex-union minister Mr. Srikant Jena’s objections to recent actions of the Orissa government: a debate
  • His letter to the CM
  • August 5-8 exchange of mails: comments and clarifications
  • Aug 16 exchange of mails
• Orissa mining corporation (OMC):
  • Profit-loss during 2001-04
  • Sales during 2001-04
  • 2003-04 Accountant General report on Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and its losses (first 21 pages)
• Coal royalty issues
  • Tathya on November 17 2006.

• Hoda committee report, 2006 (summary, pgs1-28 – 2 MB)
• Dang Committee report, 2005 (7 MB)
• Govt. of Orissa Steels & Mines Department
• Orissa Mining Corporation
• Ministry of Mines, India
• Ministry of Steel, India
• National Steel policy 2005
• Ministry of Coal, India
  
• Coal India Limited
• Orissa and Tata Steel
• Tatas: Kalinganagar
• Tatas: Dhamara
• IPICOL projects (money loaned to many metal related companies)
• Orissa Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs)
• Orissa public enterprises status
• Orissa Industrial Policy 2001; ammendment
• Steel & Mines MOUS
• Orissa reference annual 2005
• Orissa government policy documents
• Mines and Communities
• Environment protection group, Orissa