Mining ban hurting economy, exports : Anand Sharma

New Delhi : Ban on mining by the Supreme Court has hit the economy and exports besides increasing India’s dependence on imported coal. “It (mining ban) has hurt our economy. It has hurt exports, (particularly) iron ore exports. It has increased our dependence on coal imports. So both ways we are losers,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.

But for the ban on mining, he said, India could have earned by exporting around 100 million tonnes of iron ore.

“We have been deprived of the precious foreign exchange, and what we could have mined in India. When it comes to coal, $22 billion plus was the coal import bill,” the Minister said.

Following the ban, shipments of iron ore plunged to 18 million tonnes in 2012-13 from nearly 168 million tonnes in 2010-11. Before the ban, India was exporting iron ore worth over $7 billion. Slowdown in exports has increased the trade deficit as well as the current account deficit. While the trade deficit soared to a record high of $191 billion in 2012-13, CAD

Source : dailyshippingtimes.com