The coal ministry’s latest attempt to sell coal blocks has attracted newbies in the auctions fray, but overall response remains subdued due to lack of participation.
In a latest development, a second attempt was made to sell 11 coal blocks under the second tranche of commercial mining auctions, which had fetched single bids in the previous round.
As part of the auction process, technical bids comprising of online and offline bid documents were opened yesterday, where only seven bids came in for four coal blocks.
The outcome of technical bids confirmed participation of several new companies, including industry giant JSW Steel, in the auction process.
However, no response for the remaining seven coal blocks with five of them having reserves in excess of 100 million tonnes (mn t) would come as a major dent to the government’s plan of expediting coal block allocations.
It may be recalled that the ministry had offered an expanded pool of 67 blocks in the second tranche of the auctions. Of which, bids came in for 19 blocks in the technical round. Eventually, eight blocks, which had received multiple bids, qualified for the final round and were sold.
The remaining 11 blocks did not qualify earlier, as they had received only a single bid each which was against the criteria stipulated for coal block sales.
Highlights from technical round
*Only MP Natural Resources has re-submitted its bid for auction among the previous bidders for the same set of offered coal blocks.
*All the seven technical bids received are from different companies. Apart from MP Natural Resources and Adhunik Power, rest have made entry in these auctions for the first time.
*Multiple bids were seen for the blocks having coking coal reserves, namely-Beheraband North and Lalgarh North.
What’s next
As per the revised norms defined for the second attempt of sale, the coal blocks receiving a single bid will be considered for sale. However, final decision regarding allocation would be subjected to approval from the Empowered Committee of Secretaries.
On the other hand, for blocks with multiple bids, the final round of auction will take place post-examination of technical bids from 23 Dec’21.
Leave a Reply