The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act of 1957 regulates the mining sector in India, including specifying the rules for the allocation of mining leases. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015 introduced, amongst other changes, the system of auctions to be used by state governments when granting mining leases and prospecting licence-cum-mining leases (also known as a composite licence). The purpose of changing the method of allocation of the resources was to remove the discretion that state governments previously had, and move towards a fair, objective, and transparent system.