Business Line reported that the Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers'Association has asked the state government to speed up the grant of various mining leases to resume iron ore mining.

Addressing reporters after the KISMA members submitted a memorandum to Karnataka chief secretary,Mr MVS Seshagiri Rao joint MD&group CFO JSW Steel said"Early clearances from the State government will ease capacity constraints.At present,many steel mills are running below their capacity.The steel capacity in Karnataka relies solely on the iron ore sources in the state,which constitute 24%of the total steel production in the country.The total ore requirement of the iron and steel industry in the state is around 33 million tonnes per annum at 80%to 85%capacity utilization."

He added"After several rounds of auctions till date,around 26 million tonnes of iron ore have been sold.Now it is estimated that around one million tonnes of stock is available."

Mr Seshagiri Rao said"In view of NMDC being unable to produce the required capacity and as category A mines have not yet resumed operations,the future of the iron and steel industry in the State is very grim and bleak.More steel plants will close down in the coming days.Therefore KISMA seek the government's intervention on the following for the survival of the steel industry in the state.We have sought early clearances for the remaining category A and A1 mines and to initiate the process of opening of category C mines."

Source-Business Line