Granite and stone industries seek policy support

The FIGSI presented a charter to the Government of Karnataka o icials at an interactive seminar in Bengaluru.

The Federation of Indian Granite and Stone Industry (FIGSI), an association to promote natural stones of India domestically and internationally, has presented a charter on ‘Challenges and opportunities of dimensional stone industry’ to the Government of Karnataka. The Hon’ble Minister of Mines and Geology, Halappa Achar and other government officials from the department of mines, revenue and environment were also present.

The body had organised an interactive seminar in the city to find solutions to issues to bring back the industry on the growth path.

“India is the second largest deposit of Natural Stones in the world with 15% of the world Natural Stone reserves which is about 46.23 billion cubic metres. India also stands in 4th position in the Natural Stone trade in the world. The total number of people employed in the Natural Stone trade in India is about 1.5 million. Considering all these benefits from the Natural Stone Industry. FIGSI seeks support from the state government to promote and give fillip to the stone industry,” said Ishwinder Singh, President, FIGSI.

Due to the constant effort of FIGSI, there has been development in the mining and processing sector. Today the stone industry is exporting about 80 percent of its produce in the form of finished goods after value addition. The Indian Industry has acquired a state of the art technology which is at par with other countries. India’s products are well received globally and are being used in many big projects. India is exporting to more than 90 countries across the globe.

Addressing the officials, S. Krishna Prasad, General Secretary, FIGSI said: “The need of the hour is to allow free import of Granite also under OGL to mitigate the problem of shortage of raw material. Due to the closure of most of the quarries in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as per the State Government policy decisions, the processing units are importing marble under OGL and EOU’S are importing both marble and granite blocks to overcome the shortage of supplies.”

The FIGSI also sought simplification of the environment clearance certificate procedure.“Environmental protection is now mandatory for every quarrying activity since we have to obtain an environmental clearance certificate and have to follow the conditions laid down in the E/C. The Federation has installed an RO water purifier plant at a remote granite quarrying area in Chamarajanagar. We request the government to simplify the procedure to obtain environment clearance,” added Ishwinder Singh.

The processing sector has developed very well in the last 10 years. Processing units have been set up in almost all the districts where quarrying activities take place, since it is easy to procure the raw material. Today, India is exporting more than 80% of the stone products in value added form to more than 90 countries all over the world.

The following points were discussed with the state government in association with the state federation FKGQSI.

Policy support

The FIGSI seeks the following support from the government:

1. Long term quarry lease ranging from 30-50 years with guaranteed renewals instead of auctioning the quarries.
2. Royalties to be reduced to match with global rates of 3 to 4 %
3. Grant of quarry leases in a time bound manner within 90-120 days.
4. Import of granite blocks to be brought under OGL (Open General Licence).
5. Reduce GST to 5% on blocks and 12% on slabs and tiles.
6. Royalty collection to be outsourced to avoid illegal transport of blocks.
7. Environment clearance condition to be simplified.
8. Recovery percentage for saleable blocks to be rationalised.

Challenges

1. Competition from other countries like China, Turkey, Brazil, Iran etc.
2. Competition from other similar products like quartz, ceramic, porcelain, glass etc.
3. False propoganda like usage of child labour,Radiation from stones etc.

Future outlook

With policy support, the industry can grow 10-15% annually.

Increase exports by 15-20%.

Investment can go up to Rs 1 lakh crores from Present Rs 50,000 crores Provide employment to additional 15 lakh skilled and semiskilled people in rural & semi urban areas. Over a period of time natural stone will prove that they are superior compared to other competitive products.

About FIGSI

Few visionaries of the stone industry, taking note of the potential of the Natural stone industry of India domestically and internationally joined together and formed the