By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR/ANGUL: On Monday, the electronic auction would be held for five coal blocks–Chakla, Jharkhand; Marki Mangli-II, Maharashtra; Radhikapur (West), Odisha; Takli-Jena-Bellora (North) & TakliJena-Bellora (South), Maharashtra; and Urban, Madhya Pradesh. The auction under which 19 coal blocks would go under the hammer will continue for eight days, from November 2-9, according to the latest calendar for electronic auction of the coal ministry.
Companies like Hindalco Industries and Adani Enterprises will be vying for Chakla coal block in Jharkhand on Monday. For Radhikapur (West) coal block in Odisha, companies like Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Vedanta Ltd are in the race but the Naveen Jindal owned JSPL Group is reportedly ahead of Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta in race sources said.. With regards to Marki Mangli-II block in Maharashtra, Yazdani International Pvt Ltd, Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation Ltd and Refex Industries Ltd will be competing against each other. Aurobindo Reality and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and Sunflag Iron and Steel Company Ltd are in the race for Takli-Jena-Bellora (North) and TakliJena-Bellora (South) coal block in Maharashtra.
JMS Mining Private Ltd and Stratatech Mineral Resources Pvt Ltd would be vying for Urban block in Madhya Pradesh. Adani Enterprises (AEL) through its various companies, Hindalco, Jindal Power, JSW Steel, Vedanta, and Welspun Steel, are in the fray for these mines. There are various non-coal companies, medium-sized enterprises, and state government mining companies participating in the auction.
The auctioning of coal mines for commercial mining and sale of coal will commence on November 2, with 19 coal blocks going under the hammer. This will be the second and final round of the auction process wherein interested bidders will submit their financial bids in real-time on an online platform. This is the first time India is offering coal mines to private companies for commercial sale.
Senior officials said the technically qualified bidders will be announced two hours prior to the bidding on Monday. The e-auction is being conducted on the e-commerce portal of state-owned MSTC.“Two officers from the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute and the Ministry of Coal will open the initial price offers and upload on the bidding platform of ‘MSTC E-Commerce’. The software will itself declare the highest and lowest offer. The bidding will commence from the highest initial price offer,” said an official, adding there will hardly be any manual intervention after the initial offers are uploaded.
The bidding time for every mine is two hours, the bid submission window eight minutes. Bidding will close when there is no bid for eight minutes. “As long as the bids keep coming, the process can continue beyond two hours,” said a ministry official.
The MSTC system will declare the highest bidder or the preferred bidder. The nominated authority of the commercial coal auction will evaluate all bids, submit to the Ministry of Coal, which will declare the successful bidder. The e-auction will run from November 2-9.
The Centre had started the process of coal mine auction — for commercial mining and sale by private companies — in June. Bidding terms were liberalised to attract foreign players, non-mining entities, and large miners. It amended the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, in May to simplify the auction process and attract significant investor interest.
However, there was no offer submitted by any foreign company. AEL has submitted the highest number of technical bids and initial offer for 12 mines. The technical round under which the companies submitted their eligibility and initial price offer closed last month. Of the 38 coal blocks offered by the Ministry of Coal, it received interest from 46 companies for 19 blocks. The total number of bids submitted were 82.
Odisha , which houses 79,295 Million ton of coal deposits, is the second most Coal bearing State in the Country while India is the 5th biggest coal bearing Nation in the World. In past, Odisha Government only auctioned 1 coal block-Jamkhani, which had won by Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Limited. The Coal Ministry is auctioning as many 40-50 blocks.
Odisha has hiked it coal production by 23 % in last 5 years, while National Coal Production increased by 24 %. Out of the Coal Blocks, 21 have been reserved for auction to all Non Regulated Sectors, such as Steel, Cement and 6 Coking Coal Mines for Iron Ore and Steel. India’s coal production was 730.54 Million ton during 2018-19 with a growth of 7.9 %
The 9 mines blocks including Chendipada I, Chendipada II, Machhakata, Mahanadi, Radhikapur (East), Radhikapur (West), Brahmanbil & Kardabahal, Kuraloi (A) North, and Phuljhari (East & West) were put for auction in Odisha. Most of these Blocks belongs Angul-Talcher coal Belt, close to Satkosia and Similipal Tiger Reserves.
The Naveen Patnaik led Government in Odisha, was expecting to get near about Rs 10,648 crore from 9 Coal Blocks of the total 38 put for auction for commercial coal mining. Of the 9 blocks. fierce bidding for Odisha’s Chendipada (40 MTPA) and Macchakatta (30 MTPA) blocks is expected along with Chhattisgarh’s Gare Pelma IV/1 (6 MTPA) coal mine, sources said.
