Aim to increase mines' share in GDP by 1% in 2-3 years: Goyal

The new Minister of Mines Piyush Goyal, who assumed the additional charge on Wednesday, said he will work towards increasing the share of mines and minerals in India's GDP by 1 per cent in the next 2-3 years.

"We will work on a growth of 30-35 per cent annually in terms of the volume of minerals mined, which would help us in increasing mining's share in GDP by 1 per cent in 2-3 years," Goyal, who is in charge of the Power, Coal and Renewable Energy, told reporters here.

He took charge of the ministry from Narendra Singh Tomar, who has been transferred to the Rural Development Ministry.

To a query on a possible merger of the coal and mines ministries, the Minister said: "We will see that at an appropriate time. The Prime Minister and senior ministers will take a call on this. But, I must say this government works on synergy and is performance oriented."

"The government has merged the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs with the External Affairs Ministry in sync with its broad principle of 'minimum government, maximum governance'," he added.

Goyal said he will discuss with officials in the ministry on creating an app which will inform about the status of the mines, the minerals extracted as well as on export and import of such commodities.

He also assured that very soon he will be having dialogue with all the stakeholders for creating a future roadmap for the sector.

--IANS

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