The fourth day of auctions under sixth tranche of commercial mining scheme saw an extended round of bidding for Arjuni East coal block. The block, located in Madhya Pradesh, garnered interest from a mixed bag of cement, steel and mining firms.
Subsequently, after a tussle amongst the 4 participants in the financial bid round which lasted almost 6 hours, UltraTech Cement emerged the winner by quoting a final price of 79.25%.
This is the highest bid recorded so far in this round of auction, surpassing the previous high of 65.5% recorded for Namchik Namphuk. It is to be noted here that the bid parameter indicates percentage share of revenue payable on coal produced from the block.
This also extended dominance of cement companies, where firms like Shree Cement, Dalmia Cement, Rama Cement Industries and Ambuja Cement have already acquired a coal block.
The other block offered on the day, Gondbahera Ujheni, went to MP Natural Resources at a nominal price of 7%. Interestingly, the company also acquired Gondbahera Ujheni East — a block which is located in the vicinity of the same coalfield — back in the second tranche.
In total, 20 coal blocks have been sold at an average bid price of 25% during the first four days. The remaining seven blocks left in the lot are scheduled to be auctioned over a span of a 5-day period.
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