Goa's iron ore exports likely to decline by 30 percent

Panaji: Goa’s iron ore industry is staring at a 30 percent decline in exports for the current fiscal, being attributed to enforcement of stringent regulations and curbing uncontrolled tapping of minerals.

The royalty collection by the state government will also slump this time, even as policymakers have geared up to mobilise additional resource, to make up for the revenue loss suffered from the mining industry.

Goa Mineral Ore Exporters’ Association (GMOEA), an umbrella organisation of the ore exporters, has said projected total exports to be around 40 million metric tonnes this year.

Association Secretary Glenn Kalavampara predicted a direct 30 per cent decrease in the exports considering the current trends.

State’s iron ore trade, after witnessing rocky patch, had come to a standstill for a couple of months, after the government appointed Shah Commission and state legislative assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) began their probe into the affairs of this industry.

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State Mines and Geology Department has projected royalty collection of Rs 720 crore for the current fiscal, ending March 31. The collection this fiscal is much less compared to Rs 983 crore last fiscal.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, anticipating the reduction in the royalty collection, has already announced that the state finances, this time, will not bank on the revenue collected from the mining industry to bail out from

the fiscal deficit.

The BJP-led government wants to opt for alternate avenues of additional resource mobilisation to mop up the revenue.

PTI