Indian iron ore miners cautioned federal authorities total shipments of the key steel-making raw material ingredient will unlikely exceed 50 million tonnes in 2012 following the recent implemented increase in the duties of iron ore exports by the country.

Effective Dec. 30, India's Ministry of Commerce hiked the export duty tax to 30 per cent from 20 per cent on both iron-ore fines and lumps, an order posted on the Central Board of Excise and Customs website said on Monday.

The pronouncement had generated its fair share of remarks and observations from both Indian mining firms and steel companies, with the latter seen to benefit much from the increase.

"It will be the end of exports of iron ore fines (a certain product size) from India. With an already high 20 per cent duty, export had declined 28 per cent in the first eight months of the current financial year," R K Sharma, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, said in the Business Standard.

Reports said India's unsystematic export of the raw material prompted federal government, to trigger the increase.

In as much as the increase discourages exports, India's domestic steel industry will greatly benefit from the recent development. The local domestic steel producers have been having difficulties sourcing the iron ore it needs due to the mining ban in Karnatka's Bellary district.

The tax hike had generated different impacts on the share prices of India's mining firms and steel makers.

On Monday, share prices of Indian steelmaker JSW Steel rose by as much as 4.47 per cent, while shares of most Indian iron ore producers such as Sesa Goa and NMDC slid 5.2 per cent.

An analyst had said the export duty hike could further damage the iron ore companies' already weak volumes in the export market.

"Indian iron ore will no longer be competitive in the world market," Sharma said in The Wall Street Journal. "This [export tax rise] will push the industry to the verge of dying."

The world's third largest iron ore exporter, India shipped 117.3 million tonnes of iron ore in 2009-10, 70 per cent to 80 per cent was in the form of fines. These are not much patronized by the domestic steel-makers.

Indian exports of iron ore slumped in 2010-11 to 97.64 million tonnes. From January to August, exports fell 28 per cent to 40 million tonnes compared a year ago.