JSPL, Jindal and BALCO have lost their winning coal block as the government has rejected approval of their agreements. The Companies had won these blocks at comparatively lower bids.
Earlier, the Indian Coal Ministry had put eight auctioned coal blocks under the scanner for proper evaluation. After two weeks of re-examination, the Ministry has rejected agreement approvals of three blocks and granted approvals to five. The three rejections were bagged by the companies at comparatively lower bids.
The ministry had finished auction of blocks in two phases under Schedule II & III which comprised of 32 coal blocks. However, the ministry had put eight blocks on hold, three from the first and five from the second phase.
The three rejected blocks were won by JSPL, Jindal Power and BALCO. Gare Palma IV/2 & 3 was won by JSPL at INR 108/MT, Tara was bagged by Jindal Power at INR 126/MT. Both blocks were meant for power sector, based at Chhattisgarh. The third block, Gare Palma-IV/1 in Chhattisgarh, was reserved for unregulated sector such as Steel, Cement & Iron was won by BALCO (Bharat Aluminium Company) at INR 1,585/MT. These rejected blocks are likely to go under CIL until further action.
At the end of two phases, JSPL highlighted as the biggest beneficiary in block auction because the company won over lowest bid. After the government’s rejection, now JSPL affected the most as it lost two coal blocks.Bids on other blocks in the power sector had ranged as INR 370-1,100/MT.
“The bids for these blocks were found too low compared with those from the same sectors or other blocks” said a senior government official.
According to JSPL it was wrong to cancel winning bids because government had set a base price at INR 100/MT.
| Mine | Erstwhile holder | Won | Win Price | Reserves | State | End Use Project | Phase |
| Marki Mangli III | Topworth Urja and Metals | BS Ispat | 918 | 4.2 | Maharashtra | Iron & Steel | Schedule II |
| Brinda and Sasai | Abhijeet Infrastructure | Usha Martin | 1,804 | 24 | Jharkhand | Iron & Steel, Cement & CPP | Schedule III |
| Meral | Abhijeet Infrastructure | Trimula Industries | 727 | 12.67 | Jharkhand | Iron & Steel, Cement & CPP | Schedule III |
| Dumri | Nilachal Iron & Power Generation | Hindalco Industries | 2,127 | 46.13 | Jharkhand | Iron & Steel, Cement & CPP | Schedule III |
| Mandla-South | Madhya Pradesh State Mining Corporation | Jaypee Cement Corporation | 1,852 | 13.3 | Madhya Pradesh | Iron & Steel, Cement & CPP | Schedule III |
| Gare Palma IV/2 & 3* | JSPL | JSPL | 108 | 155 | Chhattisgarh | Power | Schedule II |
| Gare Palma IV/1* | JSPL | Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO Vedanta Group) | 1,585 | 49.57 | Chhattisgarh | Iron & Steel | Schedule II |
| Tara* | CG Development Corporation | Jindal Power | 126 | 166.9 | Chhattisgarh | Power | Schedule III |
*Rejected Coal Blocks
Win price in INR/MT
Reserves in MnT
Source: SteelMint Research
Leave a Reply