Govt extends deadline for bidding in commercial coal mines' auction till Jan 13

The government on Monday said that it has extended the deadline to submit bids for the coal blocks under sixth round of commercial mine auction till January 13.

The biggest tranche of 141 mines covering eleven coal-bearing states are being offered in the sixth round of commercial coal mine auction.

"In response to... requests from prospective bidders, the ministry has extended the bid due date till January 13, 2023," the coal ministry said in a statement.

The earlier due date for submission of online and offline bids was December 30.

The coal ministry had recently organised investor's conclaves in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Indore, for which tremendous response was received.

Several pleas for extension of bid due date were received during conclaves and also in writing at the office of the nominated authority, ministry of coal.

The coal ministry had launched the process for auction of 133 coal mines under sixth round of commercial auctions, of which 71 are new coal mines and 62 blocks are rolling over from earlier tranches of commercial auctions.

Additionally, eight coal mines under second attempt of fifth round of commercial auctions were also launched as those mines had received single bids in the first attempt.

The coal ministry has successfully auctioned 64 coal mines in the first five tranches of commercial mines' auction.