India struck off mining survey for skipping minimum questions

A number of countries including India and Pakistan were dropped out of a survey of mining companies of 91 countries for not responding to the minimum number of questions.The survey for 2017 was conducted by Canada's Fraser Institute."This year (2017) India has not been even included. In 2016, it was the least attractive destination. India is not in the reckoning for mining investment. Mining sector is not attractive for international investors," Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) Secretary General R K Sharma told PTI in reaction to the survey.Since 1997, the institute has been conducting an annual survey of mining and exploration companies to assess how mineral endowments and public policy factors such as taxation and regulation affect exploration investment.The survey seeks to create a report card that governments can use to improve their mining-related public policy in order to attract investment in mining sector to better their economic productivity and employment.The Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2017 includes 91 countries from all continents except Antarctica.A list of 15 questions was prepared and the companies had to answer at least five to get their views included in the survey.Any country with fewer than 5 responses was dropped. The survey struck off countries including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, India, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar and Pakistan, among others.

from The Economic Times http://ift.tt/2FErC8p