214 mineral blocks have been sold since 2015 says government

11 Nov 2022 CW Team

According to the government, 214 mineral blocks have been offered for sale since 2015. Since changes to the regulations were introduced last year, the number of blocks offered for sale each year has increased by three times.

In contrast to the 108 mineral blocks that were placed up for auction over a six-year period, from 2015 to 2021, 106 blocks have been sold in the past 1.5 years, starting in April 2021.

Even though there are far fewer working auctioned mines (36) than there are working non-auctioned mines (405), premiums from auctioned mines are outpacing royalties from all working mines.

In three states, including Odisha and Karnataka, the total auction premium from the mines that were put up for auction in FY'22 was Rs 211.48 billion, as opposed to Rs 212.67 billion from the royalty of all the active mines.

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