Kerala, Tamil Nadu Plan Joint Venture For Mineral Sand Mining

05 Dec 2025 CW Team

Kerala and Tamil Nadu are working on a strategic collaboration to extract mineral sand from the Tamil Nadu coastline and process it into value-added products. In initial discussions between the Industries Ministers of both states, officials explored integrating Tamil Nadu’s mineral resources with Kerala’s technical expertise.

Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML) has assessed that proposed projects to source ilmenite — the key raw material for titanium dioxide — from Tamil Nadu would be profitable. Tamil Nadu has proposed that both mining and value addition should take place entirely within its territory, with the partnership aimed at enhancing production capacity across both states.

KMML has sought Tamil Nadu’s support to secure Union Government approval for mineral sand mining and for land allocation. The Kerala PSU has also requested the formation of a joint venture with Tamil Nadu Minerals Ltd (TAMIN). According to officials, the Tamil Nadu Government has agreed in principle and will move forward with the required follow-up actions. If successful, the venture is expected to be a major asset for Kerala’s PSUs, including KMML and Travancore Titanium Products Ltd (TTPL).

The meeting was attended by Kerala Industries Minister P. Rajeeve and his Tamil Nadu counterpart T.R.B. Rajaa, along with senior officials from both states. KMML was represented by its managing director, P. Pradeepkumar, and T. Karthikeyan, head of the mineral separation plant.

Beyond mineral sand mining, the states also discussed cooperation in areas such as AI-enabled governance, the electric vehicle ecosystem, tourism and broader technology partnerships.

Real Estate

05 Dec 2025

RBI Rate Cut Boosts Confidence Across Housing Market

Industry Context and Market DynamicsThe real estate industry has welcomed the RBI’s rate cut as a timely boost to affordability and demand. With home prices having risen steadily across major markets, even a marginal reduction in interest rates meaningfully strengthens purchasing power, especially for first-time and mid-income buyers.Ashish Jerath, President – Sales & Marketing, Smartworld Developers, observes:“The RBI’s 25-basis-point cut, bringing the repo rate down to 5.25%, is a timely boost for the real estate sector. Lower interest rates reduce borrowing costs, enabling homeb..

BMC Resumes Rs 170 Billion Road Works, Targets 80 per cent By Jan 2026

Following the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon in October, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has restarted work on 645 roads—covering 297.49 kilometres—under its large-scale concretisation programme. Data shows that more than 60 per cent of the resumed works are located in the western suburbs. Officials said the civic body aims to complete concretisation on 80 per cent of the roads where fresh work has begun by January 2026. Launched in 2022, the Rs 170 billion project seeks to concretise 700 kilometres of roads across Mumbai. All civil works were halted during the monsoon ..

India Pushes Digital Shift In Urban Land Mapping

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) under the Ministry of Rural Development has convened a National Symposium on NAKSHA – the National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations – to advance India’s transition to modern, technology-driven land mapping. Speaking at the inaugural session, Secretary Manoj Joshi underscored the urgent need to move revenue departments away from outdated, tape-based methods and rough hand-drawn sketches. He stressed that adopting latitude–longitude-based digital mapping and GIS-linked registration systems is essential for economic stabi..