IME 2012
Minerals are valuable natural resources being finite and non-renewable. They constitute the vital raw materials for many basic industries and are a major resource for development. The history of mineral extraction in India dates back to the days of the Harappan civilization. The wide availability of the minerals in the form of abundant rich reserves made it very conducive for the growth and development of the mining sector in India.
The geological and metallogenic history of India is similar to mineral rich countries like Australia, South Africa, South America, and Antarctica etc, all of which formed a continuous landmass prior to the breaking up of Gondwanaland. It also has some features similar to the mineral rich Canadian shield of North America.
The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in the mining sector after liberalisation in 1997, opened up an “automatic approval” route for investments involving foreign equity participation upto 50% in mining projects, and upto 74% in services incidental to mining.
The FDI in the mining sector for all non-atomic and non-fuel minerals have now been fully opened upto 100% through the automatic route including diamonds and precious stones.