Will work on increasing minerals' share in GDP by 1% : Goyal

Piyush Goyal, who assumed the charge of Mines Minister on Wednesday, said he will work towards increasing the share of the mines and minerals sector in the gross domestic product (GDP) by 1 per cent in the next 2-3 years.

Goyal, the Minister of State for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy took the additional charge of Mines Ministry from Narendra Singh Tomar, who has been shifted to the Rural Development Ministry in a Cabinet reshuffle.

"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 told reporters here after taking the charge from Tomar.

At present, mining's share in the country's GDP is 2.4 per cent.

When asked about merger of the Coal and Mines Ministries, he 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 (MOIA) with the External Affairs Ministry in sync with its broad principle of 'minimum government, maximum governance', he added.

Goyal also said he will talk with the officials in the Mines Ministry on creating an app which will inform people about the status of the mines, the minerals extracted as well as on export and import of minerals.

Tomar exuded confidence that the Mines sector will touch new heights under Goyal.

Congratulating Tomar for bigger role at Rural Development Ministry, Goyal said he has done an outstanding job by improving the basic infrastructure of mining sector.

"All we have to do now is to carry his work forward," he said.