Rajya Sabha passes Offshore Mineral (Development and Regulation) bill

The Upper House on Thursday passed a Bill to pave the way for tapping India’s offshore mineral resources. This amendment bill to the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act (OAMDR Act), 2002 aimed to establish a fair and transparent mechanism to allocate the operating rights for those engaged in offshore mineral extraction.

With this, the bill has been approved by Parliament and will be sent for the President's assent. This amendment is aimed at removing the impasse in the sector.

According to the statement of objects and reasons, the amendment enables the central government to frame rules for the conservation and systematic development of minerals in offshore areas.


Protection of the environment by preventing or controlling any pollution which may be caused by the exploration or production operations is also an agenda of this amendment.

According a mines ministry official, the OAMDR Act, 2002 came into force in 2010. "However, no mining activity has been undertaken in the offshore areas till date," the official said.

This amendment also seeks to create an Offshore Areas Mineral Trust, similar to the District Mineral Fund, to maintain a non-lapsable fund under the public account of India to ensure availability of funds for exploration, mitigation of adverse impact of offshore mining, disaster relief, research, work for interest and benefit of the people affected by exploration or production operations.

It has been proposed to grant production leases to the private sector only through auction. Operating rights without competitive bidding can be granted on nomination basis to public sector entity in the mineral bearing areas.

The amendment seeks to introduce a composite licence, which is a two-stage operating right granted for the purpose of undertaking exploration followed by production operation. These composite licences shall also be granted only through auction by competitive bidding to the private sector.

For atomic minerals, grant of exploration licence or production lease shall be made only to a public sector entity.