Karnataka Introduces Bill to Tax Mines and Mining Land

20 Dec 2024 CW Team

In response to a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing state governments to impose taxes on minerals, the Karnataka government presented the Karnataka (Mineral Rights and Mineral Bearing Land) Tax Bill 2024 in the Assembly. This move is expected to generate over Rs 47 billion in additional revenue. Under the proposed legislation, tax will be payable by mining leaseholders at the time of dispatching minerals, with different tax rates applied based on the mine’s category. A uniform tax rate is suggested for mining leases within the same category, taking into account the current additional payments made by lessees. The Bill, which was cleared by the state cabinet earlier this month, comes after the Supreme Court’s August 2024 order permitting states to collect taxes on mineral-bearing land and mineral rights with retrospective effect from April 1, 2005. The ruling also waived interest and penalties on past dues before July 25, 2024. Leaseholders will be allowed to pay the taxes in installments over 12 years, starting from April 1, 2026. The Bill categorises mining leases into five groups based on the method of grant and additional payment conditions. These categories include leases granted through non-auction routes before 2015, those granted to public sector units before and after 2015, and those auctioned after 2015. The Bill also empowers the state government to set tax rates for mineral-bearing land and mineral rights, with retrospective implementation from 2005 and 2015, respectively. It includes provisions for mining companies to appeal tax determinations. According to the law, taxes will be paid by the leaseholder at the time of mineral dispatch, with a 12% simple interest charged on overdue payments. Of the total estimated revenue, Rs 42.07 billion is expected from mineral rights tax, and Rs 5.05 billion will be raised from taxes on mineral-bearing land. (Indian Express)

Infrastructure Transport

12 Mar 2026

Kavach 4.0 Commissioned on Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah

"Kavach version four has been commissioned on 1,452 route km, covering the high density Delhi–Mumbai and Delhi–Howrah corridors. The rollout included laying 8,570 km of optical fibre, installation of 1,100 telecom towers, deployment of trackside equipment over 6,776 RKm and establishment of 767 station data centres. Trackside implementation has been taken up on 24,427 RKm covering Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal and High Density Network sections. The programme aims to strengthen signalling and train protection on key routes.Kavach is an indigenously developed automatic train protecti..

Railways Advance Kalyan–Murbad Line And Mumbai Capacity Expansion

"Indian Railways is advancing multiple rail infrastructure projects in Maharashtra, including the sanctioned Kalyan–Murbad new line and sizable investments under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project and the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project. The Kalyan–Murbad 28 km new line has been sanctioned at Rs 8.36 billion (bn) on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis with the Government of Maharashtra and has been declared a Special Railway Project for land acquisition; proposals covering 214 hectares are at various stages of acquisition. Budgetary outlay for projects falling fully or partly in Maharash..

Parliamentary Panel Flags Funding Gaps in Heavy Industries

"The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry (Rajya Sabha) presented its 332nd report on the Demands for Grants 2026-27 of the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI). Figures converted from crore and lakh are expressed in million (mn). The Budget Estimates 2026-27 for the Ministry stand at Rs 79,399 mn against a projected requirement of Rs 94,843.2 mn, a shortfall of about 16 per cent, with revenue at Rs 79,370.8 mn and capital compressed to Rs 28.2 mn from Rs 5,020 mn.The committee flagged recurring BE-to-RE compression and declining revised estimate utilisation, and calle..