India: India's upper house of Parliament has approved changes to the country's mining law to make it easier to sell mining rights, a move that could spur acquisitions in the cement and mining sectors.

Lawmakers approved the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, allowing the transfer of mining rights by companies that received them through a government allocation. The bill was cleared by the lower house of Parliament in March 2016 and now needs to be signed off by the President to become law.

In the past, mining rights had either been distributed to companies through government auctions or through individual allocations, a method that raised questions about arbitrariness in decision-making.

In 2015 the government implemented a new law that made it mandatory to auction mining rights. It also permitted the transfer of mining rights previously won through auction, but was silent on whether rights received through a government allocation for captive uses could be sold.

The latest rule provides clarity and could help speed up proposed merger deals such as UltraTech Cement’s planned takeover of Jaypee Group's cement plants and LafargeHolcim's plan to sell two cement units to Birla Corp.