MMTC Ltd. (known fully as Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India) is one of the two highest earners of

foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, it i ...

for India and India's largest public sector trading body. Not only handling the export and import of primary products such as

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

, agro and industrial products, MMTC also exports and imports important commodities such as

ferrous In chemistry, iron(II) refers to the chemical element, element iron in its +2 oxidation number, oxidation state. The adjective ''ferrous'' or the prefix ''ferro-'' is often used to specify such compounds, as in ''ferrous chloride'' for iron(II ...

and nonferrous metals for

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

, and

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

fertilizers A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrition, plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from Liming (soil), liming materials or other non- ...

. MMTC's diverse trade activities cover third-country trade, joint ventures and link deals and all modern forms of international trading. The company has a vast international trade network, spanning almost in all countries in Asia, Europe, Africa,

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

, and the United States, and also includes a wholly owned international subsidiary in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, MTPL. It is one of the Miniratnas companies. MMTC is one of the two highest

earners for India (after petroleum refining companies). It is the largest international

trading company Trading companies are businesses working with different kinds of products which are sold for consumer, business, or government purposes. Trading companies buy a specialized range of products, maintain a stock or a shop, and deliver products to cus ...

of India and the first

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

enterprise to be accorded the status of Five Star Export Houses by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

for long-standing contribution to exports Being the largest player in

bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from ...

trade, including

retailing Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

, MMTC's share was 146 tonnes of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

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 in New Delhi. It falls under the Commerce Ministry. The Corporation started functioning on 1 October. The main objectives of the company were the export of mineral ores and the import of essential

metals A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. These properties are all associated with having electrons available at the Fermi level, as against no ...

. According to a latest news, MMTC is Asia's biggest gold and silver importer.

State Trading Corporation

After

Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

the government decided to authorize the

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

of scarce

mineral resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

to the

rather than

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

, 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 to accelerate the pace of development" Under the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

, mineral rights and authority of mining laws remain vested with the state governments. On the other hand,

Central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

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 The Government of India (ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territor ...

, with the interest of boosting agricultural and industrial development, determined to earn valuable foreign currency through the export of

canalized River engineering is a discipline of civil engineering which studies human intervention in the course, characteristics, or flow of a river with the intention of producing some defined benefit. People have intervened in the natural course and b ...

mineral ores, which the country had huge deposits of. As a consequence of the government's decision to earn

foreign currency A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific environm ...

, the State Trading Corporation of India Ltd. was founded in 1956, as a wholly owned

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

, 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 the European market with the exports of one lakh tonnes of iron ore to

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Also in the same year, the company had commenced the import of gold and silver against a special import license for supply to the customers in the domestic area. Imports worth 20 metric tonnes of gold and silver worth 270 tonnes were made, and the company opened new gold vaults at

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

and

Vizag Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

to offer its services to the customers in these areas. However,

manganese ore Manganese is a chemical element; it has symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition metal with a multifac ...

exports remained depressed due to the recession in the steel industry. The wholly owned subsidiary MMTC Transnational Pte Ltd,

was incorporated under the control of the 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 Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

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 A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

items and

Homeopathic Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance tha ...

Medicines. In 2003, MMTC's joint venture with the Orissa government, namely Neelchal Ispat Nigam Ltd., emerged as the second largest exporter of pig iron from India.

2012

On 14 September 2012. the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs decided

disinvestment Disinvestment refers to the use of a concerted economic boycott to pressure a government, industry, or company towards a change in policy, or in the case of governments, even regime change. The term was first used in the 1980s, most commonly in ...

of 9.33% in MMTC. Today, MMTC has the distinction of being: * Largest

exporter An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

of minerals from India * India's Largest

Bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from ...

Trader * India's largest importer of

Steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

References

External links

Official Website of MMTC Ltd

{{authority control Trading companies, India Government-owned companies of India Metal companies of India Companies based in New Delhi 1963 establishments in Delhi Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange