New Delhi, July 13 -- The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Centre's method of calculating mining royalty, rejecting a plea by Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Ltd that challenged the existing formula as resulting in "royalty on royalty" for mining companies.

A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan refused to interfere with the existing royalty calculation framework, holding that the methodology is a matter of fiscal and economic policy.

The ruling is expected to provide certainty to the mining sector by preserving the existing royalty framework. It also comes as a major relief to the Centre and mineral-rich states, as any change in the royalty computation methodology could have significantly affected royalty collections an...