India: Parliament panel asks government to ensure faster green clearances for aluminium sector
A standing committee of India’s parliament asked the government to ensure faster green clearances for aluminium mining and address land challenges. This move wa...
A standing committee of India's parliament asked the government to ensure faster green clearances for aluminium mining and address land challenges. This move was taken to ensure that the industries don't face problems in developing mines to make India self-reliant in the aluminium sector. The country has rich reserves of bauxite, the primary ore of aluminium, but over 80% of the reserves are yet to be fully explored.
In the report presented in the parliament on 22 March, the standing committee on coal, mines and steel noted that aluminium is limited primarily to the electrical and electronic sectors in India. However, the multiple government initiatives, such as 100% rural electrification, housing for all, smart cities, national infrastructure pipeline, renewable energy and scheme for electric vehicles will boost the consumption of aluminium in the country.
On the development of aluminium and copper industries in the country, the committee observed that only 17% (656 mnt) of bauxite is under 'proven and probable' category while the remaining 3,240 mnt are yet to be fully explored. There are a total of 3,896 mnt of bauxite resources across the country.
The parliamentary panel asked the Union Ministry of Mines to facilitate the development of more bauxite mines and ensure that the mining industry gets a continuous support of the government/state governments and other supporting agencies. It further asked the government to apprise them of the steps taken so that the industries do not encounter any problem on account of lack of clearances and acquisition issues.
According to the report, aluminium has the second-largest metals market in the world after iron and steel. The total domestic production of aluminium during FY'21 was at about the same level of 3.61 mnt (nearly 5.5% of global production) as in FY'20. According to the Union Ministry of Mines, the total domestic consumption of aluminium during FY'21 decreased to 3.40 mnt as compared to FY'20 levels of 3.70 mnt.
The panel noted that the total aluminium imports including scrap during FY'21 stood at 2.06 mnt compared to 2.15 mnt in the previous financial year. The Indian aluminium industry consists of three primary producers of aluminium metal and a number of secondary players. The three primary producers are:
- National Aluminium Company (NALCO)
- HINDALCO Industries
- Vedanta Ltd. (consisting of Vedanta Ltd & BALCO)
- India has abundance of resources available but those resources have not been converted to proven reserves. So, we require a lot of exploration activities.
- The auction regime has started in the last five years. However, the auction has not been done by the state governments. So, this is another kind of challenge, the ministry told the committee.
