Rajasthan M-Sand Policy — Incentives for Manufactured Sand Units under RIPS 2024

Manufactured sand — M-sand — is produced by crushing and grading stone and mine overburden, replacing river sand whose extraction has been eroding Rajasthan's rivers. The state's M-Sand Policy was brought in to protect river ecosystems, put the state's vast mineral overburden to use and create industrial employment: river sand is simply loaded and sold, while M-sand is a manufacturing process with crushers, washing, grading and a quality laboratory. The policy targets 20% annual growth in M-sand production to about 30 million tonnes a year by 2028-29, and it backs that target with a mandate: government departments, local bodies, panchayati raj institutions and state-financed organisations must use at least 25% M-sand in construction, rising to 50% by 2028-29.

With the Rising Rajasthan policy revisions, the M-sand package sits alongside RIPS 2024, so a new unit draws state tax and land concessions from the policy and interest and employment support from RIPS, and can add a central capital subsidy on its plant and machinery.

• •Quality: M-sand must meet the BIS standard for manufactured fine aggregate, tested in a BIS-certified laboratory at the unit.
• •Waste: the slurry and fines from washing must be reused — in brick making or agriculture — so that waste to disposal is minimised.
• •Water: conservation and recycling of process water, with the environmental responsibilities of a mining-linked industry.
• •Mandate compliance: government and semi-government works must use the minimum share of M-sand, which secures the unit's market.

1. 1Step 1 — Source: identify the overburden dump or stone source; apply for allotment at the reduced reserve price through the mines department.
2. 2Step 2 — Project: DPR covering crushers, vertical shaft impactors, washing and grading, laboratory and pollution controls; term loan structured for the RIPS interest subsidy and, where eligible, SCLCSS or PMEGP.
3. 3Step 3 — Land: purchase or lease with the 75% stamp-duty exemption certificate obtained before registration.
4. 4Step 4 — Approvals: pollution consent (CTE/CTO), mining-related permissions, factory licence, BIS quality lab.
5. 5Step 5 — RIPS 2024 application on the RajNivesh portal for SGST reimbursement, electricity duty, employment and interest benefits; subsidy claims filed as they fall due.