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NITI Aayog Report Recommends Adding Coking Coal to Critical Minerals List.

National | Dated: 30 Nov 2024

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog's report titled 'Enhancing Domestic Coking Coal Availability to Reduce the Import of Coking Coal' recommended that the Government of India (GoI) include coking coal in its list of critical minerals to enhance domestic production and reduce reliance on imports.

🎯 Key Highlights:

  • - The report emphasizes the strategic importance of coking coal for India’s steel industry and overall economic growth. It meets all the criteria to declare coking coal as a 'critical mineral' for India.
  • - The report suggested amending the Coal Bearing Areas (CBA) Act, 1957, to allow the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode to remain a deemed lessee of Jharkhand even after majority shares are transferred to the private sector.
  • - Steel is essential for infrastructure and industry, making a stable coking coal supply vital for job creation and economic stability in India.

💡 Other Important Facts:

  • (i) India imports about 85% of its coking coal, which is higher than that of the European Union (EU) (approximately 62%).India has 5.13 billion tonnes of prime coking coal and 16.5 billion tonnes of medium-quality coking coal, yet its production is underutilized.
  • (ii) In the Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), Integrated Steel Plants (ISPs) imported 58 million tonnes (MT) of coking coal, incurring a cost of over Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Despite this significant import, public sector washeries operated at less than 32% capacity, whereas private sector washeries operated at over 75% capacity, highlighting inefficiencies in the public sector.
  • (iii) The report calls for fully leveraging India's proven reserves to meet the growing demand from steel mills, which consume approximately 70 million metric tons annually.

📚 Test Your Knowledge:

Recently, which mineral has NITI Aayog recommended to add to the Critical Minerals List in its report?

Correct Answer: Coking Coal

🚀 Quick Recap:

About NITI Aayog

  • CEO : B. V. R. Subrahmanyam
  • Established : 2015