India plans new booster package for mining sector

New Delhi - Package would revolve around allowing existing operations to flourish while giving sops to boost new operations

The government is planning another booster policy to attract investments in the mining sector, according to sources.
The informed sources said that the mining package would revolve around allowing existing operations to flourish while giving sops to boost new operations.
According to officials, the concept of captive mines would be diluted to allow all mines to use the mineral resources either for captive consumption of end-use plants or sold for commercial purposes. This would be a major reform that would allow companies such as Tatas, Vedanta and JSW to commercially sell out from their captive iron ore mines for higher gains.
The package would also include changes in law that would offer full mining leases to global companies which decide to take up the risk of finding new mineral resources in unprospected areas.

Reluctant festive shoppers wooed
Meanwhile, e-commerce giants Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart kicked off a crucial battle for shoppers on Sunday ahead of India's massive festive season as retailers search for a much-needed boost to sales amid a slowing economy.
October and November - when much of India's 1.3 billion population celebrates several major Hindu festivals and consumers traditionally go on spending sprees - are critical for retailers, with some raking in almost half of their annual sales during the period.
But sales this year have been hit by falling consumer demand as a liquidity crunch crimps personal loans and unemployment soars to its highest level since the 1970s.
Interim dividend request
Also on Sunday, the Indian government may request an interim dividend of around Rs300 billion ($4.3 billion) from the central bank in order to meet its fiscal deficit target, Mint newspaper reported on Sunday citing news agency Press Trust of India.
The government is likely to seek the dividend payment towards the end of the April-March financial year to meet the government's fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of gross domestic product, government sources told the PTI.

• India