Kolkata: Coal India Limited chairman, Pramod Agarwal, on Wednesday stressed on the augmentation in the contribution of India’s mining sector in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in order to achieve the goal of a $5 trillion economy by 2030.
At the 16th CII Global Mining Summit in Kolkata on Wednesday, he said, “Ideally the contribution of the country’s mining sector in the country’s GDP should be 2.5 per cent to achieve that desired economic growth.”
“The importance of the mining sector lies in the crucial sectors it is catering to. Hence the role of the sector in boosting the economic growth of the country cannot be undermined and hence the sector’s contribution in GDP should be pushed to 2.5 per cent. For that the prime necessity is to reduce the high rate of imports in the sector,” he stated.
Speaking on the occasion, Agarwal said that CIL is targeting 50 million tonnes of sales through e-auction during the second half of the current financial year of 2022-23.
He also informed that CIL had been investing substantially in mechanised evacuation and first-mile connectivity to meet the dual challenges in the areas of evacuation and production.
Identifying evacuation as a bigger challenge than production, Agarwal expressed confidence to achieve majority mechanised evacuation within the next four years.
Chairman of NMDC Limited, Sumit Deb, who was also present on the occasion, stressed on the need for strong overseas partnership in areas of exploration, research & development and extraction of minerals in order to reduce dependence on imports. According to him, mitigating regulatory delays and ensuring faster mine allotments were the prime needs of the hours.
(IANS)
