This story is from January 21, 2018

Ease rules for exploration and mining of minerals: Vedanta to govt

Ease rules for exploration and mining of minerals: Vedanta to govt
Key Highlights
  • Ahead of PM Modi's Davos visit, Vedanta group has suggested that government ease the rules for exploration and mining of minerals
  • Vedanta which acquired Cairn India is facing a tax demand of over Rs 20,000 crore
NEW DELHI: Ahead of Prime minister Narendra Modi’s Davos visit to court investors, Vedanta group chairman Anil Agarwal has suggested that government ease the rules for exploration and mining of minerals besides addressing concerns related to retrospective taxation.
Vedanta which acquired Cairn India is facing a tax demand of over Rs 20,000 crore after the then finance minister amended the law retrospectively to tax transactions involving overseas companies with assets in India.
Agarwal has suggested that resolution of the issue will address concerns of global investors although the Modi government has maintained that it does not intend to use the law retrospectively.
Agarwal, whose group deals in natural resources has demanded changes in policies related to sectors his companies operate in, arguing that it will benefit SMEs and enhance domestic economic activity.
“The new policies on exploration need to address the core issues. For example, India cannot meet its target of producing 300 million tonnes of steel, if we continue to have caps on the production of iron ore. This necessitates the import of iron ore, thereby leading to the outgo of precious foreign exchange,” the letter said.
Similarly, he has pitched for the removal of the 20% cess on domestic crude oil, which argued that imported crude oil is not taxed. “We hope it can be brought down to a realistic level, say under 10%,” Agarwal said.
Further, he said, India has one of the highest bauxite reserves and the mines can be auctioned on the basis of available data as in the case of oil & gas sector under OLAP so that the demand can be met by domestic production. He has also suggested reducing duties aluminium scrap.
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