The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026 is an Act of the Indian Parliament that amends the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act, 1957). The legislation was passed by Parliament on August 13, 2026, after being introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 10, 2026, by Shri G. Kishan Reddy, the Minister of Coal and Mines.
The Act was created to bring certainty and stability to India's mineral taxation regime and is a legislative response to the Supreme Court's 2024 judgment in Mineral Area Development Authority v. Steel Authority of India, which had recognized the extensive tax power of States over mineral rights and mineral-bearing land.
The primary mechanism of the Act is the insertion of a new Section 9D into the principal Act, which restricts State Governments from imposing any tax, cess, or other levy on mineral rights or mineral bearing lands, except in accordance with conditions prescribed by the Central Government. This provision is supported by an amendment to Section 2 of the MMDR Act, 1957, which includes "mineral bearing lands" under the Union's declared regulatory jurisdiction. This move recalibrates the balance of power between the Union and State Governments, connecting to the constitutional provisions of Entry 54 of the Union List and Entry 50 of the State List.
Other key provisions include the abolition of the 50% ceiling on the sale of minerals produced from captive mines and the removal of the requirement for additional payment when adding critical and strategic minerals, such as lithium and cobalt, to existing leases. The Act also expands the National Mineral Exploration Trust into the National Mineral Exploration and Development Trust Fund and envisages a new regulator for mineral exchanges. The Act replaces the previous framework that allowed States to levy taxes on mineral-bearing lands, a power upheld by the Supreme Court in 2024.