The government has put 16 coal blocks out for allocation primarily to take care of the shortages faced by the small and medium sector, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup told CNBC-TV18.
Eight out of the 16 mines will be allocated to the host states (where the mine is located) and the balance will be for non-host states, he said.
On coal block auctions, he said the market is muted as indicated by the muted response to the last auction. Fresh auctions will be done once the market firms up, he said.
Outlining the contours of Coal India’s joint venture with NTPC and IOC to revive 3 sick units of Fertilizer Corporation of India, he said, the total investment will be around Rs 20,000 crore with debt-to-equity ratio of about 1:3.
Coal India, IOC and NTPC will be equal partners and FCIL will also get some equity, he said.Below is the transcript of Anil Swarup's interview with CNBC-TV18's Anshu Sharma.Q: How many blocks will be put up for allocation?A: There are in all 16 blocks that are being put for allocation. Each of these blocks will be allocated to host states, that is where the mine is and the other set of 8 blocks will be allocated to states which are no host states.These states when allocated these coal blocks through a process that we have defined, they can then exploit that coal. The primary idea of allocating this coal mines was in the context of the shortage of coal for the small and the medium sector. However it doesn\\'t stop state from distributing coal to others. So, it will be the decision of the state government, they will have to take a call how they want to use coal.Q: Does this mean that there will be no block auction from here on or you will wait and watch for next round of coal block auction?A: Coal block auction is slightly different because in the last round of coal block auction there weren\\'t very many takers. So, we will await the firming up of the market in this regard and then go ahead with coal auction.Q: On the fertiliser side we understand that three sick units of fertiliser where Coal India will participate along with NTPC and IOC, what are the contours of the joint venture and how much will Coal India invest?A: The investment in all would be about Rs 20000 crore for these three fertiliser plants. They are looking at a debt equity ratio of 1:3 meaning thereby around Rs 5000 crore will come from equity. They have already decided to have four participants, equal participation by Coal India, NTPC and IOCL. FCIL also will get some equity. So, that is how the equity will be distributed amongst these companies for the joint venture.
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