India possesses abundant mineral resources, including coal, iron ore, manganese ore, mica, bauxite, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, limestone, and thorium.

The State-wise Mineral Production in India 2023 shows that the largest producer of Minerals in India is Orissa with a share of approximately half of the total Mineral Production in India. In mineral production, Orissa is followed by:

1. Chhattisgarh
2. Kerala
3. Rajasthan
4. Jharkhand
5. Other States

Natural Stones

 India possesses a wide spectrum of dimensional stones that include granite, marble, sandstone, limestone, slate, and quartzite, spread out all over the country. India is also amongst the largest producer of raw stone material and the sectors is quite developed and vibrant in the South, as well as in Rajasthan and Gujarat, with a dedicated resource of entrepreneurs. India also has an indigenous resource of machinery and tool manufacturers which cater well to the demands of this sector.
The Indian stone industry has evolved into the production and manufacturing of blocks, flooring slabs, structural slabs, calibrated – ready to fix tiles, monuments, tombs stones, sculptures, artifacts, cobbles, cubes, kerbs, pebbles and landscape garden stones.

Marble

Marble was used for building tombs, temples and palaces. For a long time it was considered as Royal Stone. It is, however, now used in hotels and homes too. There are many varieties.  Makrana Marble is the source of the marble used in the Taj Mahal. It is situated at a distance of 60 km from Kishangarh and falls in the Nagaur district of Rajasthan. The region has various mining ranges, mainly Doongri, Devi, Ulodi, Saabwali, Gulabi, Kumari, Neharkhan, Matabhar, Matabhar kumari, Chuck doongri, Chosira and Pahar Kua amongst others.   Other varieties of marble are Rajnagar Marble, Andhi Marble, Salumber Marble, Yellow Marble, Bidasar, Kishangarh Marble, Gujarat – AmbaJi White Marble, Rajasthan – Abu Black, Madhya Pradesh – Katni Range, Jabalpur range and Indian Green Marble.

Sandstone

Sandstone reserves in India are found over the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Karnataka, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Over 90% of the deposits of sandstone are in Rajasthan, spread over the districts of Bharatpur, Dholpur, Kota, Jodhpur, Sawai-Madhopur, Bundi, Chittorgarh, Bikaner, Jhalawar, Pali, Shivpuri, Khatu and Jaisalmer.

India is among the leading countries when it comes to mining and export of sandstone. The best part with Sandstone from India is that it is available in different colors and considered best for interior as well as exterior use. Few most popular sandstone products from India include names like Tint Mint, White Mint, Mint Fossils, Modak, Agra Red, Rainbow Sandstone, Raj Green, Teak, Buff Brown, Dhoplur Chocolate, Beige, Dholpur Pink, Lalitpur Pink, Mandana Red, Jodhpur pink, Jodhpur red, Jaisalmer yellow etc.

These sandstone are available in a number of finishes and come with great strength. However, Sandstone like Rainbow is only available in layered form and so is not suitable when good thickness is required and Jodhpur sandstone is best when used in front elevation and high comprehensive strength. To illustrate it clearly, you can’t have cobbles out of Rainbow sandstone in particular as it is usually available in the slabs form.

Slate

Slate reserves in India are found in Rajasthan, Behror, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Deposits in Rajasthan are spread over the districts of Alwar, Ajmer, Bharatpur, Tonk, Sawai Madhopur, Pali, Udaipur, Churu, and Chittorgarh. Few important names in slate are Jak Black, Silver Shine, Silver grey, Panther, Deoli Green, Peacock, Peacock Multi, Kund Black, Kund Multi and so on. Being to some extent fragile in nature, it is good for interior use only and can be used in even as washboards.

Other Dimensional Stones

 There are some other dimensional stones being quarried and used in consumption, in addition to the dimensional stones already detailed above. Laterite bricks are quarried in huge quantities and are utilised as bricks in the construction of houses and for pavements in the states of Orissa, Karnataka, Goa, and in other parts of coastal states. The felspathic sandstone occurring with the coal seams as overburden is also used as building stone. The huge deposits of basalt in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat are used as building stones since ancient times. Other quartzitic bands, occurring with phyllites and schists, are also utilised for building purposes. Khondelites from Eastern coast are being used widely in sculptures and as a building material. Felsite from Karnataka is being extensively used as a dimensional stone as well. India also contains many stones which are semiprecious like-zoisite, apophyllite, cavansite, muscotive mica, almandine, etc.

Granite

Granite technically refers to a light-coloured granulose plutonic rock composed of felspars, plagioclase, quartz (35% approx.) and minor amounts (45% approx.) of mafic minerals, such as, biotite, hornblende, pyroxene, iron oxides, etc. But, in commercial parlance, the term granite has become synonymous with all those crystalline rocks which have pleasing colours, strength to bear the processes of quarrying and cutting & polishing and which are used commonly for decorative purposes. Being more resistant to wear and tear as well as weathering, granite is most sought-after stone to be used for building as well as decorative stone. The fascination for granite is due to its amenability for taking mirror-like polish, high compressive strength, longevity and aesthetics. India possesses enormous deposits of all types of dimension stones. It is one of the prominent producers of dimension stones in the world.  The Dimension Stone Industry employs a workforce of over one million at its various sectors. This Industry plays a vital role in the economy of the states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan. Rural economy of many developing States like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and North-Eastern States is dependent on this Industry. Granite industry is valued at $40 billion and has a potential to generate semi-skilled employment further, in rural areas.

Within the country, granite used for decorative purposes is considered costly when compared with other materials, hence, its utilisation and trade in the domestic front has been relatively low when compared to its export potential.

India is endowed with abundant resources of wide variety of granite comprising over 200 shades. As per NMI data base, based on UNFC system, as on 1.4.2015, reserves/ resources of granite dimension stone of all types have been estimated at 46,320 million cubic metres. Of these resources, 264 million cubic metres (less than 1%) fall under reserves category, while the remaining 46,056 million cubic metres (about 99%) fall under resources category.  Of the total granite reserves, about 36 million cubic metres of all grades fall under proved category while 228 million cubic metres falls under probable category. Ninety four percent reserves relate to coloured granite and the balance about 6% to black granite. About 98% reserves are located in Rajasthan, Odisha and Karnataka with a share of 42%, 30% and 26%, respectively.

State wise breakup of total resources reveals that Karnataka & Rajasthan share about 20% each of the resources which are followed by Jharkhand (19%), Gujarat (18%), Andhra Pradesh (5%) and Madhya Pradesh (4%). These states together account for 86% of the total resources. Grade wise classification reveals that about 7% of the total resources fall under black granite while 92% under coloured granite. About 1% resources are of unclassified grade.

Prime Varieties Of Indian Granite

In the world market, there are nearly 300 varieties of granite of which India supplies about 200 varieties. Out of these, prime varieties represent a wide spectrum of colour, texture and structure. These prime varieties have substantial resource base. Commercial names of granite are derived from area, colour, patterns, etc.

Karnataka specialises in the production of Ruby red, Chilly red, Cera grey, Kanakpura multicolour, Himalayan blue and Sira grey varieties of granite. Andhra Pradesh is famous for Black Galaxy, Srikakulam blue and Black varieties of granite while Tamil Nadu is abundant in Jet-black & Tipuwhite, Kashmir-white and Paradiso sea green varieties of granite. Odisha specialises in Pink granite, Silver grey, Sea weed Green, Chilka blue, Grey wave varieties of granite.

Production

Granite is declared as a “Minor Mineral,” under the MMDR Act, 1957 and, therefore, falls under the purview of the State Governments. The data on production of granite, therefore, lacks precision as acquisition-delays makes it difficult to draw a conclusion. Major production of granite in raw as well as processed form is generally from Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. The important granite producing centres in Tamil Nadu are located at Dharmapuri, Erode, Madurai, Salem, Virudhunagar and Villupuram districts.

In Rajasthan, production centres are mainly spread in the districts of Jalore, Pali, Sirohi, Barmer, Ajmer, Jaisalmer, Jhunjhunu and Jodhpur. Karnataka is another important producer of granite varieties with production centres predominantly located at the districts of Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburgi, Hassan, Raichur and Kolar. The occurrences of granite have been reported from three districts of Uttar Pradesh, namely Lalitpur, Mahoba and Banda. Almost the entire production was reported from Lalitpur district. In Andhra Pradesh, important mining areas are located in the districts of Chittoor, Anantapur, Kurnool, Prakasam, Srikakulam and in Telangana, Warangal, Karimnagar and Khammam districts.

The granite resources of Gujarat are located in the districts of Mehasana, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara, Amreli, Bhavnagar and Kachchh. Details regarding production of processed granite are not available. However, it could be contrived from the data on processed material exported from which production level in the country with addition of 5 to 15% for internal use could be estimated. From all available data, it could be concluded that India is in a comfortable position to produce the required quantity of granite to meet the demand of both domestic as well as export markets.

Mining

Production of blocks of considerable size and weight is a special feature of granite mining. The process and equipment used for granite mining differ considerably from those used for mining other minerals. The mining of granite involves two important stages of operation the first actual block splitting either from sheet rock or boulder and the second operation involves many items of works, such as removal of weathered zone or overburden, opening of faces, lifting of cut blocks, transportation and many other ancillary work before and after block splitting.

Processing Industry

Granite processing basically involves sawing or cutting of raw blocks into the tiles/slabs of required size & thickness and polishing of sawn-off surfaces. Other ancillary functions involve edge cutting, milling, boring and contouring for enhancing the quality and price of production. In India, the Processing Industry is in three sectors, namely, small-scale units, medium-scale units and 100% export-oriented units (EOU). The Processing Industry of granite in the country has developed over the years, and the share in exports of processed material has increased manifolds.

Uses

Granite is the most sought-after among all building stones. In ancient times, granite pillars and beams were preferred material to support the huge structures of temples and palaces and for making protective walls around them. With the invention of modern tools of greater hardness and polishing ability, the use of granite has rather increased on account of its aesthetic value. The modern motorised tools of tungsten carbide and brazed diamond have enabled the user to cut & polish granite as per the specifications of the Building Sector.  Presently, cut and polished granite slabs of 20 mm thickness are preferred for flooring, while tiles of 10 or 12 mm thickness are used for cladding. In addition, gravestones and monuments of various shapes and sizes are also in vogue. The flexibility of the cutting tools has engendered creation of many artifacts of granite for decorative purposes.

Granite also finds its application in making garden furniture, such as, benches, fountains and many other articles which are used for landscaping and/or decorative purposes. The cut-to-size small blocks are used as cobblestone, kerbstone, road sidings and for many other innovative purposes. Crude granites are utilised for structural purpose after little dressing & sizing, whereas processed granites are used mostly in the construction of buildings and monuments and for interiors and exterior facing. Granites, because of its superior wear resistance and non-denting quality, are used as parts in various meteorological and engineering instruments, such as, surface plates, straight edges, parallels, cubes, V’ blocks and work-mounting tables of co-ordinate measuring machines.

Granite is a ‘Minor Mineral’ under the MMDR Act, 1957. The grant of various mineral concessions for granite is, therefore, administered under the Minor Mineral Concession Rules of the respective State Governments. However, the Granite Conservation and Development Rules, 1999 aims at uniform rules for conservation, systematic development and scientific exploitation of granite resources. The mining leases for granite are generally granted over very small area, leading to haphazardly distribution of waste dumps in the lease area, thereby creating environmental concerns. Now, all the granite leases are required to obtain environment clearance for mining operations.

Exports over the last 5 years

Granite is an important commodity amongst ores and minerals that have tremendous export potential. It is mainly traded in the form of crude or roughly trimmed blocks, as cut blocks & slabs; and as polished blocks & tiles. An export of Natural Stones & Products from India has reached US$ 2084.57 million during 2022-23.  However, exports have declined over 12% during 2022-23.  Since, 2018-19 exports have increased CAGR 1.09% over the last 5 years and reached US$ 2085.57 million during 2022-23.

As per the latest data for the period April to October 2023, exports of Granite and Natural Stone products are showing declining trend of over 8% compared to April to October 2022.  The leading markets for Granite and Natural Stone products are China, USA, Vietnam, UK, Bangladesh, Germany, UAE, Poland, France and Turkey during April to October 2023.

India possesses one of the best granite deposits in the world having excellent varieties comprising over 200 shades. India accounts for over 20% of the world resources in granite. The Dimension stone market is said to grow at a fervent pace as the demand for granite, marble, sandstone and other dimension stones and stone products is on the rise and are anticipated to grow at around 10% CAGR. A similar rate of growth in exports can also be achieved with the help of suitable policy framework, infrastructure and other facilities which the Industry expects to consolidate for augmentation of prospects. The emphasis needs to be on popularisation of Indian stones in both the traditional markets as well as other niche markets.  This industry can certainly bring about substantial foreign exchange into India, as well as significant employment generation.