NALCO, HCL and MECL, the three CPSEs under the administrative control of Ministry of Mines, Government of India, have signed an MoU on 18 th September 2017, to make the country self-reliant in the areas of 12 strategic minerals that are either not available in the country or not available in the desired quantity. Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD, NALCO, Shri Santosh Sharma, CMD, HCL and Dr. Gopal Dhawan, CMD MECL signed the MoU at the Corporate Office of NALCO in Bhubaneswar.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand said: “The objective of the MoU is to set up a Joint Venture Company namely Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL) to identify, explore, acquire, develop and process the strategic minerals overseas for commercial use and for supplying to India to meet the domestic requirements due to its non-availability in the country and giving a boost to Make in India drive of the Government of India.”
Accordingly, a task force under the chairmanship of Director (P&T), NALCO has been formed to finalize a draft JV agreement by 2 nd week of November. The Committee of CMD’s will meet in 3 rd week of November under chairmanship of CMD, NALCO to finalize the Joint Venture modalities and thereafter approval of Ministry and Niti Aayog will be obtained.