Parrikar stamps his authority to give mining lobby a break of Rs 1,500 cr September 5, 2012
Pamela D’Mello Herald Insight Team PANJIM: In a little noticed move, the addition of just two paragraphs in The Indian Stamp Goa Amendment Act 2012 ~ moved as an amendment on the last day of the recently ended Monsoon Session of the Goa Assembly — has resulted in the Manohar Parrikar government having effectively though not officially rolled back the whopping stamp duty it proposed to levy on mine lease grants and renewals. 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; text-align: justify; ">The last-minute amendment will bring down the government's projected collection from the controversial mining industry from Rs 2500 crore to around Rs 930 crore, which would save the mining industry over Rs 1,500 crore. The rollback followed “discussions” with the mining industry in the run-up to passage of the amendment to the Act. Mining bodies had protested against the steep stamp duty proposed and managed to secure a rollback ~ and it went unnoticed by the Opposition and the public. Earlier, the Parrikar regime had made much of a Cabinet decision in August to amend the Stamp Duty act and levy a one-time advance royalty payment of 15 per cent due on the highest grade ore, multiplied by the amount of extraction permitted by each mine owner’s environmental clearance (EC), multiplied by 20 (which is number of years, the period that leases are granted/renewed for). Parrikar had said the “state government would mop up Rs 2,500 crore” from the industry, his announcement buttressing his image as the man who would come down hard on an industry run rampant. “The amendment puts a cap on the amount payable to Rs 1 lakh per ton, bringing down the amount collectible to Rs 900-1000 crore,” Secretary Mines RK Verma told HERALD INSIGHT in reply to a question. Accordingly, mine owners permitted to extract one lakh tons a year would have to pay a stamp duty of Rs 2 crore on their lease, while those with EC permissions for a million tons annually pay Rs 20 crore in stamp duty for a 20-year lease renewal, say sources in the industry. While the rolled-back duty is a third of that proposed by the Parrikar government initially, the industry's complaint is that the stamp duty is still much higher in Goa than elsewhere in the country. “When the Stamp Duty Bill was introduced we were really shell-shocked. According to the initial proposal, it would have worked out to Rs 120 crore per million tons. If your EC limit is one million tons, you would have had to pay Rs 120 crore. We had a series of meetings with the chief minister, and finally what has been introduced is there is a cap on the total liability. The cap is about Rs 20 crore per million tons, which is even now the highest in the country,” said Shivanand Salgaocar, President of the Goa Mineral Ore Exporter’s Association. Despite repeated attempts throughout the day, the chief minister could not be contacted for his comments. He is learnt, however, to have taken the stand there has been no rollback and that the notification which would soon be published would make everything clear. http://www.heraldgoa.in/News/Main%20Page%20News/Parrikar-stamps-his-authority-to-give-mining-lobby-a-break-of-Rs-1-500-cr/64048.html
