The announcement by the finance minister of structural reforms in the coal and mineral resources sector will strengthen India's production of these critical resources. India is blessed with abundant reserves of coal, bauxite and other mineral resources, ensuring the safety of raw materials for industry and boosting India 's self-reliance efforts for Atma Nirbhar Bharat, said Ajay Kapur, CEO of Aluminum & Power Business, Vedanta Ltd.
The Indian aluminum industry has made huge investments of Rs 1.2 lakh crore ($20 billion) to raise domestic production capacity from 2 million ton per year (mtpa) to 4.1 mtpa to meet the country 's demand for aluminum, creating more than 1 million jobs and growing more than 4,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in the downstream market, he said.
Notwithstanding having ample domestic aluminum capacity, 60% of India 's demand is currently being imported, resulting in a forex production of US$ 5.5 billion ( Rs 38,000 crore). "The domestic industry is completely capable of reacting to the domestic demand of the country, thus alleviating the need for imports," Kapur said.
As a next step, the Government the focus on promoting the domestic aluminum industry, preferring indigenously generated aluminum for domestic use, in line with the PM's emphasis on 'local products for local market' self-reliance in India, he said.
