Government Should Include Coking Coal In Critical Minerals List: NITI Aayog Report

The European Union has declared coking coal as a critical raw material along with 29 other raw materials which include 'green energy' minerals like lithium, cobalt, and rare earths.

The government must include coking coal in the list of critical minerals and provide special dispensation to enhance the domestic production of the key raw material for steel production, according to a Niti Aayog report.

The report 'Enhancing Domestic Coking Coal Availability to Reduce the import of Coking Coal', said considering India's commitments to Net Zero by 2070, the country's interests would be better served by fully utilising the proved reserves of medium coking coal (16.5 billion tonne) in India for metallurgical purposes.

"Government of India (GoI) must include coking coal in the list of critical minerals since coking coal constitutes approximately 42 per cent of the cost of steel which is an essential commodity for infrastructure development and downstream industries, which are large job creators in India," the report said.