New Delhi: The Government has increased the
export duty on iron ore fines and lumps by 5 per cent each, a
decision which the industry said would adversely affect the
mining sector.
The Government has raised the export duty on iron ore
lumps to 10 per cent from 5 per cent and on iron ore fines to
5 per cent from nil, said a finance ministry notification.
"This decision has come at a wrong time when the exports
were picking up and showing signs of recovery," said Secretary
General of the Federation of Indian Minerals Industries (FIMI)
R K Sharma.
"This will have cascading effect on the steel industry.
Finance ministry should have waited for some time before
increasing the export duty and should have allowed the steel
industry to recover from the global economic meltdown," he
added.
Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh had earlier in a letter to
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee demanded 10 per cent export
duty on all grades of iron ore.
India currently is third largest exporter of iron ore in
the world after Australia and Brazil.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 25, 2009, 23:07