Until SC allows legal mining, cos will bleed: Kalyani Steel

Expecting the states of Goa, Orissa and Jharkhand treading towards a mining ban like in Karnataka,  RK Goyal, manging director of Kalyani Steel says it is the impact of this 'artificial scarcity' due to the mining ban, which is making it tough for the entire steel industry in the country.

"All steel plants are bleeding at this point in time. Hence, there is no relief, until the Supreme Court resolves issues related to illegal mining and at least permits legal mining," says Goyal. Below is an edited transcript of RK Goyal's interview to CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: How do you see the iron ore prices behaving globally? We have seen a bit of a retracement because of the slowing demand from China, how do you see it moving from here? A: Iron ore prices in India are going to be strong. The advantage in India because of higher availability of iron ore and lower prices, the transportation advantage as compared to countries like China, is not going to be to that extent because of artificial scarcity which has been created by the ban on mining and transportation in Karnataka and now extending to Goa. This will spread to other states like Orissa and Jharkhand. And even in the last auction we have seen people to bid much higher prices because they don