Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India

Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India Ltd.

200px
Type	State-owned enterprise Public (BSE: 513377, NSE: MMTC)
Industry	Trading of Metals, Minerals, Fertilizers, Agro Products and Coal & Hydrocarbons
Founded	26 September 1963
Headquarters	New Delhi, India
Key people	Sanjiv Batra (Chairman & MD)
Revenue	37,017.44 crore (US$7.51 billion) (2009)
Net income	2,036 crore (US$412.9 million) (2009)
Total assets	5,428.59 crore (US$1.1 billion) (2009)
Employees	3,825 (2009)
Subsidiaries	MMTC TRANSNATIONAL PTE LIMITED (MTPL) Singapore & Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL)
Website	www.mmtclimited.com

Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India Ltd. (MMTC Ltd.) (BSE: 513377, NSE: MMTC) is one of the two highest earners of foreign exchange for India and India's largest public sector trading body. Not only handling the export of primary products such as coal, iron ore, and manufactured agro and industrial products, MMTC also imports important commodities such as ferrous and nonferrous metals for industry, and agricultural fertilizers. MMTC's diverse trade activities cover Third Country Trade, Joint Ventures and Link Deals and all modern forms of international trading. The Company has vast international trade network, spanning almost in all countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, America and also includes a wholly owned international subsidiary in Singapore, MTPL. It is one of the Miniratnas companies.

MMTC is one of the two highest foreign exchange earner for India (after Petroleum refining companies) Petroleum: India's largest foreign exchange earner[2]. It is the largest international trading company of India and the first Public Sector Enterprise to be accorded the status of FIVE STAR EXPORT HOUSE by Government of India for long standing contribution to exports. MMTC is the largest non-oil Importer in India.

Being the largest player in bullion trade, including retailing, MMTC's share was 146 tonnes of gold out of the total import of 600 tonnes of the precious metal in 2008-09.

History

Foundation

The Company was incorporated on 26 September, 1963 at New Delhi. The Corporation started functioning on 1 October. The main objectives of the company was Export of mineral ores and Import of essential metals. According to a latest news, MMTC is Asia’s biggest gold and silver importer.^[1]

State Trading Corporation

After Independence the government decided to authorize the mining of scarce mineral resources to the public sector rather than private sector, although India's National Mineral Policy clearly states that it does not "preclude the State from securing the co-operation of private enterprise in the larger interest of the State or with a view to accelerating the pace of development"

Under the Constitution of India, mineral rights and authority of mining laws remain vested with the state governments. On the other hand, Central government regulates the development of minerals under the Mines and Minerals (Regulation) Act of 1957.

The MMTC has its origins in the 1950s, when the Indian government, with the interest of boosting agricultural and industrial development, determined to earn valuable foreign currency through the export of canalized mineral ores, which the country had huge deposits of. As a consequence of the government's decision to earn foreign currency, the State Trading Corporation of India Ltd. was founded in 1956, as a wholly owned government subsidiary, to handle the export and import of selected commodities.

1963-2000

The Company had commenced its operation on 1 October 1963. With the rapid growth of the State Trading Corporation (STC) in its direct trading activities and in view of the importance given to the exports of mineral ores in the country's Five Year Plans, a decision was taken by the Government of India to split the STC and establish another corporation to deal exclusively with the trade in minerals and metals.

Japan and South Korea continued to be the major markets till the year of 1994. Then it made a foray into European market with the exports of one lakh tonnes of iron ore to Slovakia and Romania. Also in the same year, the company had commenced import of gold and silver against special import license for supply to the customers in the domestic area. Imports worth 20 metric tonnes of gold and silver worth 270 tonnes was made and the company opened new gold vaults at Hyderabad and Vizag to offer its services to the customers in these areas. However, manganese ore exports remained depressed due to recession in the steel industry.

The wholly owned subsidiary MMTC Transnational Pte Ltd, Singapore was incorporated under the control of company in the year 1994 itself. During the year 1995, MMTC opened a duty-free jewellery show room at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and a Memorandum of understanding was signed with the government of Orissa for development of existing Gopalpur minor port into an all-weather, deep water and direct berthing port. In the same year, Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) had approved the scheme of merger-cum-amalgamation of Mica Trading Corporation of India Limited (MITCO) with MMTC. From the year 1996 onwards, the company started to import the Chemical items and Homeopathic Medicines.

2000-Onwards

MMTC had signed a MoU with the Department of Commerce under Ministry of Commerce and Industry during the year 2001 for its various applications. The Company had opened a new outlet at Thiruvananthapuram as a duty free business in the year of 2002 and also in the same year unveiled a new line of silverware, Sanchi-Silver in Style. During the year 2003, MMTC had acquired Rs.800 crore deals from Japanese and South Korean companies for the supply of iron ore. In the identical year of 2003, the joint venture with the Orissa government namely Neelchal Ispat Nigam Ltd was emerged as the second largest exporter of pig iron from the country.

The Company was ranked in Trading Sector by Business Standard in their publication BS 1000 'India's Corporate Giants' released in December 2006 and also noted as Top Company in the trading sector for the D&B by coveted American Express Corporate Award 2006. MMTC bagged a gold trophy for top Exporter for the Year 2006-07 in Merchant Exporter category by Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC) and also CAPEXIL highest export award for highest export of minerals for the year 2006-07, (16th time in a row). The 15 MW wind farms of the company were commissioned in March of the year 2007 at Karnataka. In The year 2007, MMTC had received government approval for acquiring an equity stake in the consortium, which has undertaken the project for construction of a permanent iron ore-loading berth at Ennore to decongest Chennai port.

Today MMTC has the distinction of being:

• Largest exporter of minerals from India
• India's Largest Bullion Trader
• One of India's biggest importer of Non Ferrous Metals
• India's largest importer of Steel-Coal
• One of India's leading importer of fertilizers
• One of India's largest trader of Agro Products

Awards and rankings

Following Awards and Rankings were conferred during 2008-09:

• Gold Trophy for being top Exporter for the Year 2006-07 in Merchant Exporter category by EEPC
• CAPEXIL highest award for highest export in Minerals and Ores sector for the year 2007-08, (17th time in a row)
• Niryat Shree Bronze Trophy for the year 2005-06 presented by the Hon'ble President of India, in January 2009 in the Highest Foreign Exchange Earner category by Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO).
• Top Indian Company in the Trading Sector by Dun & Bradstreet in their rankings 'India's Top 500 companies 2008'. In the same publication ranked 13th based on total income for the year 2007-08.
• Ranked as the Highest Wealth Creator PSU by Dalal Street Journal.
• Top ranking in the list of India's top 100 wealth creation companies published by the Times Group and the Economic Times in their publication 'ET500' released in Oct 2008. In the same publication MMTC has been ranked 17th amongst India's biggest companies.
• Ranked 4th amongst India's most valuable Public Sector Companies by 'Business Today' in its publication 'BT500' released in November 2008. In the same publication, ranked at 6th place amongst 10 most valuable companies.
• Ranked 12th in the list of India's Top PSUs 2009 released by Dun & Bradstreet.

External links

• Official Website of MMTC Ltd
• Money Control
• MMTC inside

References

1. ^ [1] MMTC: Asia’s biggest gold and silver importer-NEW DELHI (Commodity Online)

Companies portal