Govt to form expert group to analyse iron ore sale by NMDC

Steel Ministry will form an expert group of officials to study the system in place for iron ore sales by the state-run National Mineral Development Corporation, according to Steel Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh's tweet on Thursday. It will have a bearing on the fixation of prices of the ore.

The Minister did not elaborate further on the structure of the group or the study. However, a senior government official said the group is likely to be headed by the Steel Secretary Aruna Sundararajan and will include senior officials from the Steel and Mines Ministries as well as from the corporation.

Iron ore is a key ingredient used in making steel.

The development comes in the backdrop of government's think tank Niti Aayog, in March, raising the issue of iron ore being exported at a price, which is substantially lower than the rate at which it is available for domestic industry.

Aayog was of the view that extraction of minerals should also benefit the industry by value addition, resulting in strengthening of the manufacturing sector.

The Navratna firm had reported sales of 28.87 million tonnes (MT) in 2015-16, down from the 30 MT it clocked in 2014-15.

As for production, the Navratna company reported an output of 28.32 MT in the past financial year, down from record production of 30.44 MT in FY 2014-15.

Singh also advised the country's largest iron ore miner to seek support from organisations which have succeeded in starting construction work in left wing extremist areas by improvising and customising.