Investors Must Come Forward In Coal Mine Auctions: secretary Coal Ministry

The Ministry of Coal organized a roadshow in Ranchi, where Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Shri Amrit Lal Meena was the chief guest and Additional Secretary & Nominated Authority, Shri M Nagaraju, Shri Aboobacker Siddique P, Secretary (Mines), Government of Jharkhand were the Guests of Honour and Shri P M Prasad, Chairman, Coal India Limited was the Special Guest for the event.

 Coal Ministry has so far completed  successful auction of 91 coal mines in the first seven tranches and has launched the process for auction of 35 coal mines under 8^th round of commercial auctions and 4 coal mines under 2^nd attempt of 7^th round of commercial auctions which had received single bids in the first attempt on November 15,2023. The Bid Due Date is January 29,2024. Additionally, 9^th round offering 27 coal mines and 5 coal mines under second attempt of 7^th round has also been launched on December 20, 2023. The bid due date for 9^th round is February 19,2024.

Additional Secretary & Nominated Authority, Mr. M. Nagaraju welcomed all the investors and informed the forum about the coal reforms undertaken by Ministry of Coal to improve the attractiveness of the coal auction process and make it more investor friendly.

Attending Virtually, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Shri Amrit Lal Meena reiterated the commitment of the Ministry  in supporting the coal industry and informed that Ministry of Coal will extending  any help required by the prospective bidders. He also emphasised that the investors should participate in the coal mine auctions as coal mining business is highly profitable which can be seen from the coal mines which have already started coal production under commercial mining.

Shri P M Prasad, Chairman, Coal India Limited, applauded the efforts of Ministry of Coal in making Commercial Coal Mine Auctions a success by  auctioning 91 coal mines in a such a short span of time. He also welcomed the steps being taken by the Ministry in providing support by launching Single Window Clearance system and setting up a Project Monitoring Unit to help the Successful Allocatees of the coal mine in early operationalisation.

Shri Aboobacker Siddique P, Secretary , Mines, Government of Jharkhand welcomed the investors and Mr. Chiranjib Patra, GM, CMPDIL gave a presentation on the technical details of the coal blocks being offered in the commercial auction process, and Mr. Shubham Goel, Vice President, SBI Capital Markets delivered a presentation on the terms and conditions of the auction process.

Key features of the auction process include reduction in upfront amount and bid security amount, submission of bid security in form of NEFT/RTGS, permission to relinquish part of the coal mine in case of partially explored coal mines, introduction of National Coal Index and National Lignite Index, ease of participation with no entry barriers, full flexibility in coal utilisation, optimized payment structures, efficiency promotion through incentives for early production, use of clean coal technology and Rebate for Performance Security for underground mines.

The sale of tender document commenced on November 15, 2023, for 8^th round and from December 20,2023 for 9^th round of commercial coal mine auction. Details of the mines, auction terms, timelines etc. can be accessed on MSTC auction platform. The auction shall be held online through a transparent two stage process, on the basis of Percentage Revenue Share.

SBI Capital Markets Limited, the sole Transaction Advisor to Ministry of Coal for the commercial coal mine auctions, is assisting the Ministry of Coal in conduct of the auction.