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Union minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday urged all stakeholders from the mining industry to take the sector's contribution to GDP to 2.5 per cent by 2026-27 and said that the government will come up with investor-and industry-friendly norms. Joshi, who holds the portfolios of Parliamentary affairs, coal and mines, was speaking at the 75th foundation day of the Nagpur-based Indian Bureau of Mines, a multi-disciplinary government organisation. The minister said many sectors in India are transforming and the country's mining businesses can achieve the target of a 2.5 per cent contribution to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2026-27. Addressing entrepreneurs and representatives of the mining sector, Joshi said the Indian Bureau of Mines, government and private mining entities should work towards this goal. Joshi said the government has brought in many changes in the sector and would be introducing more investor-and industry-friendly norms in future, most probably in the .
The government is likely to put on sale six mineral blocks, including four iron ore mines, in the current month. The move would give a boost to mining sector's contribution to the country's gross domestic product. The four iron ore blocks, situated in Chhattisgarh, are likely to be auctioned on Tuesday, according to the mines ministry. The notice inviting tenders for the mines -- Chhitpuri B iron ore block, Gomter Wakeli, Bijapur, Hahaladdi, North Bastar Kanker, Lohhater, North Bastar Kanker -- were floated last year. The auction of Bandiamottu block in Andhra Pradesh, which has lead and associated minerals such as nickel, cobalt and copper, is also likely to be conducted in February. The notice inviting tender for the block was issued in December last year. Besides, the auction of Udagi Block -- a limestone mine in Karnataka -- has also been extended to be held in February, the ministry said. Since the new procedure for auctioning of mineral blocks was introduced in 2015, a t
Armed with substantially lighter balance sheet after repaying Rs 2 lakh crore debt, Essar is embarking on the next phase of growth by investing in hydrogen projects, building LNG import facility and retail chain, and setting up steel plants. Prashant Ruia, director, Essar Capital Ltd, said Essar currently owns businesses in the core sectors of energy, metals and mining, infrastructure, services and technology and its future plans centre around them. It is looking to set up steel plants in Odisha and Saudi Arabia and a facility to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Hazira in Gujarat. In the UK, where it owns an oil refinery, the group is setting up a blue hydrogen plant and is exploring opportunities to set up a green ammonia unit in India. Essar has set up a unit to retail LNG to trucks and will set up a chain of outlets dispensing the environment-friendly fuel. "We have completed what is certainly the one of the biggest, if not the biggest, deleveraging exercise by repaying Rs