Roadmap for Vision 2047 detailed out on Day One
Team News Riveting
New Delhi, August 23
India’s mining major NMDC in association with FICCI is organizing a two-day conference on Indian minerals and metal industry on the theme ‘Transition Towards 2030 and Vision 2047’ on August 23 and 24 at Taj Palace, Diplomatic Enclave, New Delhi.
The conference was organised to commemorate 75 years of India’s independence as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in collaboration with the Ministry of Steel and the Ministry of Mines. The key objective of the event was to deliberate on the roadmap for the minerals and metal industry to achieve Vision 2047. The program was attended by speakers from across industry, policy and academia. Participating organisations included global and domestic producers in the mineral industry, mine equipment manufacturers, global corporates and government organisations.
Pralhad Joshi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines was the Chief Guest while Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour. Sumit Deb, CMD, NMDC; Sanjiv Mehta, President, FICCI; and DK Mohanty, Director Production were also present in the inaugural session.
In his Inaugural Address, Joshi said, “As a result of reforms in the MMDR Act, 190 blocks of various major minerals have been successfully auctioned in the last 7 years and in this fiscal year alone, we have auctioned 36 mineral blocks. The upcoming amendments in the MMDR Act will further simplify the system, make it more attractive for businesses, lay thrust on mineral exploration and increase mineral production in the country. We are transitioning to reduce imports by 2030 and become AatmaNirbhar by 2047.”
Jyotiraditya M. Scindia mentioned that India is the second largest producer as well as consumer of steel. He added, “We have emerged as a force to reckon with in the global steel landscape. The National Steel Policy 2017 aims to increase the focus on capacity building, production enhancement, expansion of MSME sector, raw material security improvement, import dependency reduction and improvement in logistics and infrastructure of steelmaking. Technology would be the focus area over the next decade, facilitating production of value-added steel for domestic consumption as well as enhanced exports.”
Talking about NMDC’s contribution to nation building, Sumit Deb, CMD, NMDC said, “NMDC is at the forefront of iron ore production in India. In FY22, the total production of iron ore was more than 42 million tons, which is the highest among all iron ore producers and miners in India. NMDC’s vision reverberates with the vision of National Steel Policy as it aims to augment annual iron ore production capacity to 67 MnT by 2025 and 100 MnT by 2030. To achieve the same, we continue to aggressively pursue our initiatives to augment capacity and upgrade operations across our mines with state-of-the-art technology.”
D K Mohanty, Director Production, NMDC added, “With the highest ever overall performance in key areas – production, exploration, and turnover, NMDC is bullish on its growth, expansion and diversification plans for the decade ahead. Supported by the government measures and reforms, the future of the Indian Minerals and Metals Industry looks bright.” He also thanked the dignitaries, speakers and the organisers for being a part of the event.
The event commenced with welcome remarks from Sanjiv Mehta, President, FICCI. “Minerals and metals play a key role in the industrialisation of the economy. The mining industry contributes approximately 2 per cent to India’s GDP and every 1 per cent incremental growth of mining and quarrying has a corresponding effect of 1.2 per cent to 1.4 per cent incremental growth rate of industrial production which in turn could contribute to about 0.3 per cent percent to India’s GDP growth rate.”
The sessions on Day 2 of the conference would include ‘Technological Innovations in the mineral industry’ and ‘Enabling Factors facilitating growth in the Minerals and Metals sector’.
