India's first auction of coal mines for commercial sale begun today (November 2, 2020) for five coal mines. Vedanta has bid highest at 21 percent revenue sharing for the big coal mine on offer today, Radhikhapur West in Odisha which has reserves of about 312 million tonnes. Hindalco has bid highest for Chakla coal mine at 14.25 percent revenue sharing, followed by JMS mining bidding highest for Urban Coal mine and Aurobindo Realty has bid 30.76 percent for Takli (North & South) coal mine today.

Aggressive bidding was seen for Marki Mangli coal mine, followed by Radhikapur West for which Vedanta has bid highest at 21 percent revenue sharing. It was the big mine for day one auction bidders like Adani group company Chendipada Collieries, Aditya Birla group company EMIL and JSPL participated.

"The bids are competitive and reasonable. They have been hotly contested. The States will benefit in terms of revenue generation as well as employment creation", said Anil Kumar Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Coal and Mines.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in May announced the auction of 50 coal mines under commercial coal auction to make India an 'Aatma Nirbhar' economy. The move was brought in to curb coal import and enhance the production of coal and bring in investments and generate employment.

The rules of commercial mining now allow private sector investment with relaxation on entry barriers, net worth, and technical parameters, under a revenue-sharing model. Under the revenue-sharing model, miners will have to share a percentage of revenue with states as against the earlier regime of rupees per tonne basis auction which was conducted irrespective of the market price of coal.

The government offered 38 coal mines for commercial coal auction but interest received from companies for only 19 mines. Adani group of companies is bidding for 12 coal blocks, followed by Aditya Birla group companies in 8 coal mines, 4 bids from JSPL, 3 bids from Vedanta, and 1 bid from JSW. The auctions of 19 coal mines will end on November 9 and by November 11, the successful bidder's announcement will be made by the nominated authority.

(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)

First Published:Nov 2, 2020 1:30 PM IST