'Mining Sector Can Create Upto 25 million Jobs In India'
Mining sector has the potential to create 25 million jobs in the country, while also aiming to contribute 7-8 percent of the country’s GDP, according to Vedanta Group's Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL).
Sunil Duggal CEO HZL told reporters, "The mining sector aspires to contribute 7-8 per cent to India's GDP and if this happens, India would realise a GDP of 9 per cent in the coming years. This is expected to create at least 25 million jobs, directly and indirectly."
He added, that the country has seen continuous decline in the share of mining sector in GDP and that is holding the GDP growth. Over the last 10 years, the contribution of mining sector to GDP has been stagnant to nearly 1.2 per cent, which is highly alarming.
Mining sector grew at a CAGR of 7.3 per cent in the last decade compared to 22 per cent in China in the same period. Mining sector in India employs a smaller percentage of the population, just about 0.3 per cent which is3.8 percent in South Africa, 1.4 per cent in Chile and 0.7 per cent in China. Employment in the Indian mining sector has grown at a rate of three per cent per annum over the last 10 years.
Sunil Duggal added, "In 2012, mining sector accounted for about 3 million direct jobs and additional 8 million indirectly. The mining sector constituted 3.4 per cent of India's GDP in 1992-93, which declined to three per cent in 1999-2000 and further to 2.3 per cent in 2009-10."
He said that every one per cent increase in the growth rate of mining sector results in 1.2-1.4 per cent increment in the growth rate of industrial production and correspondingly increase of 0.3 per cent in the growth rate of India's GDP.
