The country is likely to import around 20 million tonnes of the commodity in the current financial year due to insufficient availability.
MUMBAI: Iron ore exports may remain in the range of 8-9 million tonnes in the next financial year and the country may become a net importer of the commodity, an industry official said.
"Exports will not go beyond single digit figure in the next financial year, while imports are likely to be in the double digits, making the country a net importer of iron ore," Vice-President of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries ( FIMI), Basant Poddar told PTI over the weekend.
The ban on mining in many producing regions like Karnataka, Goa and Odisha has impacted iron ore exports, resulting in a drop of 68.27 per cent in shipments during the April-January period of the current fiscal to 16.34 million tonnes.
The country is likely to import around 20 million tonnes of the commodity in the current financial year due to insufficient availability of ore in the country.
Referring to production in the next fiscal, Poddar said that it would not be more than 120 million tonne.
"It will take 2-3 years to normalise the operations," he said.
On specific producing zones, Poddar said Karntaka was likely to produce 4-5 million tonne in the next fiscal excluding the production of the state-run NMDCBSE -0.58 %.
Mining operations in many regions like Karnataka, Goa and Odisha had been halted in the last two years due to investigations into illegal mining operations.
This has reflected in the recent index of industrial production (IIP) figures with contraction of 4 per cent in mining output for December, 2012 as compared to 3.3 per cent in the same month in 2011, while the IIP for December, 2012 shrunk at (-) 0.6 per cent.
"Things have bottomed out in the iron ore mining industry. I think, there will be growth from here onwards," Poddar said.
The deal will be funded by internal accruals and debt, and will be carried out by a Singapore-based special purpose vehicle created as a fully owned subsidiary of Amtek Auto.
Amtek Auto Group has 43 manufacturing facilities with 39 located in India and four in Europe. The group comprising Amtek Auto, Amtek IndiaBSE -0.74 % and Ahmednagar ForgingsBSE 0.00 % is the largest integrated component manufacturer in India.
On Friday, Amtek Auto closed at Rs 70.95 on BSE, up 5.27 per cent. The latest acquisition will allow Amtek Auto to diversify in terms of where its revenues are coming from. According to the company website, India currently accounts for 87 per cent of Amtek Auto's revenues while the remaining comes from overseas markets. Analysts tracking the industry said post-acquisition, the India-overseas ratio might change to 55:45.
