Mines Minerals Amendment Bill 2026 States Taxing Rights G Kishan Reddy

Amid concerns over the possibility of states losing revenue from taxes, cess and other levies on mineral extraction following the passage of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, Union Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy on Thursday said the legislation would not result in any revenue loss for states. The Bill, passed by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, seeks to prohibit states from imposing specified levies on mineral right and mineral-bearing lands, except in accordance with conditions or restrictions prescribed by the Centre. The Bill comes despite the Supreme Court in 2024 upheld the power of states to levy tax on mineral rights and mineral-bearing land. SC also allowed states to collect tax arrears from April 1, 2005 onwards, but without any interest or penalty. Once the Bill becomes an Act, it will also extinguish any unpaid or unrecovered dues arising from such levies imposed before the commencement of the amendment Act. However, levies that have already been paid or recovered will not be eligible for a refund. Some estimates suggest that the total value of such outstanding dues across the mining sector could be around Rs 2 lakh crore. According to the government, the intention of the amendment is to bring greater uniformity in the prices of key major minerals and prevent their rising costs from feeding into inflation and infrastructure costs. Equilibrium in mineral prices The Bill distinguishes between major minerals, which are regulated primarily by the central government, and minor minerals, whose regulation is largely entrusted to state governments. Major minerals include coal, iron ore, bauxite, manganese and copper, while minor minerals include sand, gravel, ordinary clay and building stone. During a media briefing on Thursday, Reddy said the new amendment will apply only to major minerals, including iron ore, coal, bauxite, manganese and copper, and would likely affect around 11 mineral-producing states. He clarified that minor minerals are outside the scope of the proposed legislation. “If prices of these minerals increase, it affects infrastructure activities, which will eventually impact common people. If the price of limestone increases, rates of cement will go up, and if iron ore prices increase, the rate of steel will increase. That is why we wanted to keep the prices of these four-five major minerals balanced,” Reddy said. He said significant differences in mineral prices between states could also encourage industries to shift their operations to states where minerals are cheaper. “If the coal rate in one state increases and it is lower in another state, companies will move from the first state to the second one. Moreover, coal imports continue because of the lower grade of domestic coal. So, if domestic coal prices increase, there will be more imports,” he said, adding that similar concerns applied to iron ore and steel. He said the government’s objective was to ensure greater equilibrium in the prices of major minerals across the country. ‘Levies on minerals collected by states, not Centre’ On concerns over states’ finances, Reddy said all taxes and other levies on major minerals are collected by state governments and not the Centre. According to Reddy, the revenue of states from the mineral sector has increased from Rs 13,258 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 71,035 crore in 2024-25. “In 2014-15, states’ share in mineral revenue was 65%, this has increased to 88%. At the same time, the share of the central government declined from 35% to 12% for the same period. The central government doesn’t get any revenue from minerals, except for 9% GST. We have no plans to take any revenue from minerals,” he added. Senior officials in the Ministry of Mines said there are around 14 levies in the mineral sector which included environmental cess, pollution cess among others. “These levies will continue to be there. All we are saying is all these levies together should not be beyond a certain percentage,” a senior ministry official said, adding that this percentage will only be decided after consultation with all the states.