BENGALURU: With
iron ore stock
piling up in the state and not being utilised to the “maximum”,
chief minister HD Kumaraswamy
has written to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention to increase import duty.
The letter comes in the backdrop of the state government receiving petitions from the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), which has been lobbying for a
hike in iron ore duty
from the current 2.5% to 30% on import value.
According to government sources, the state has a stockpile of 14 million metric tonnes, yet to be picked up by steel manufacturers. “The FIMI, in its letter, even quoted the Karnataka example, along with that of Orissa, to substantiate their case,” government sources said..
In his letter, Kumaraswamy said iron ore production is substantial in the state but has been capped by the Supreme Court with a rider that ore sale must be restricted to end-users in Karnataka, and only through e-auction.
“This has led to a situation where a huge quantity of ore put up for sale on the e-auction platform remains unsold. We see steel companies importing a huge quantity of iron ore ... when the country is facing such a huge trade deficit,” said Kumaraswamy. The state government has appealed to Modi to intervene and help Karnataka’s mining industry.
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