India introduces policy reforms to promote sustainable underground mining, reducing financial barriers and encouraging advanced technologies for productivity. | Photo credit: Reuters
In an attempt to accelerate the operationalization of underground coal blocks, the Government announced on Thursday new incentives such as giving up payment in advance.
The impulse for underground coal mining is aligned with the country’s impulse for the production of sustainable coal.
“In a decisive step towards the revitalization of the Indian coal sector, the Ministry of Coal has introduced a series of transformative policy measures aimed at promoting underground coal mining,” said an official statement.
These reforms address the challenges of high capital investment and the longest gestation period.
“The percentage of income participation for underground coal mines has been reduced from four percent to two percent. This directed reduction sacrifices a substantial fiscal relief and improves the financial viability of underground projects,” the statement said.
The mandatory initial payment requirement for underground mining companies has been completing. This measure eliminates a financial barrier, encourages broader participation from the private sector and facilitates the implementation of faster projects.
These incentives are complemented even more for an existing 50 percent reimbursement on the safety of performance for underground coal blocks, which collectively attracts the entry threshold and facilitates the implementation of the project.
Underground coal mining is more friendly to the environment, since it causes significantly less interruption of the surface compared to OpenCast mining. These political measures are expected to adopt advanced technologies such as continuous miners, long wall systems, remote detection tools and Safety mechanisms based on AI, while guaranteeing ecological balance.
Posted on April 24, 2025
