Business Guide | Israel-India 2022

O ver 3 , 520 mining leases for 40 major minerals make India a major global producer of crucial minerals. National mines lie within a total lease area of about 315 , 986 hectares throughout the Indian peninsula. According to official Government data, India produces over 85 minerals including coal, lignite, bauxite, chromite, copper ore and concentrates, iron ore, leadand zinc concentrates, manganese ore, silver, diamond, limestone, phosphorite, etc. India is also the 2 nd largest producer and importer of coal in the world. Themining sector contributes 2 . 5 %of India’sGDP and about 10 % to 11 %of the total industrial sector. To this one can add the income from exports, royalty (franchises), dead rent, sales tax, andmore. The total mineral production is valued at over USD 17 Bn, and close to USD 248 . 3 Bn worth of mineral exports in 2020 . Take steel, for example: according toworldsteel, crude steel output in India registered a 46 . 9 %growth to reach 9 . 2 million tonnes in May 2021 , as compared with 5 . 8 million tonnes in May 2020 . Steel production in India is projected to increase by 18 % to reach 120 million tonnes (MT) by the end of fiscal year 2022 . The mining industry in India was valued at USD 41 . 7 Bn in 2014 - 15 and is estimated to reachUSD 125 Bn by 2025 . The Government keeps acting to encourage it, and a milestone in this direction was India’s cabinet decision in 2019 , to allow owners of coal mines that traditionally produce solely for their own use to sell 25 % of their output in the open market. The authority in charge of issuing mining licenses is theMineral Resources Department & respective State Governments – they arealso theoneswhoare sanctioning Prospecting License/Mining Lease. In 2019 , theNational Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) had approved 187 exploration projectswith a total cost of Rs. 895 . 72 crore. This thriving sector employs more than half a million workers. Targeting the Implications Yet, intensivemining raises some questions of social and climate-related issues: environmental implications, such as land degradation, land conversion, mine wastes, air pollution, groundwater depreciation, pollution of water Israel-India > Business Guide > 2022 80 > Mining > Review Extracting Diamond Deals India's rich mines and Israel’s advanced technologies make a great match