Coal auction unlocks Rs 4,00,000 crore: Secy

The auctions and allotments of 67 coal blocks so far has unlocked a total value of nearly Rs 4,00,000 crore, a senior coal ministry official said here today. "Out of 67 blocks auctioned or allotted, a total benefit of Rs 3,35,000 crore is for states and another Rs 69,000 crore will be unlocked by way of tariff benefit to the consumers," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said here today at Coal Consumers' Association of India interactive session. Till now, 29 blocks have been auctioned and another 38 allotted to the state-owned entities.

The passing of the Coal Mines Special Provisions Bill, 2015 in Parliament allows the government to continue auctioning coal blocks to private companies. Sixteen blocks will be put under hammer by third week of April, of which 11 will be for the power sector and the rest for the non-regulated sector. Swarup said the government was deliberating on the segmentation of industries for the non-regulated sector for allowing a level-playing field.

"I support the demand for segmentation of industries, like sponge iron, which should not be competing with cement bidder and we will also not differentiate between two companies of the same industry," he said. Replying to a question, Swarup said that the government was deliberating on further lowering the end-use investment for blocks which will come in the next 2-3 years. He assured that none of the coal blocks is going to washeries.

Also Read: States to get Rs 466cr as 1st tranche from coal auction

Swarup also expressed the confidence that with 204 blocks lined up to be allotted by March, 2016 in a transparent manner with a peak capacity of 800-900 million tonnes, 500 million tonnes of coal would be produced by 2020 to meet the 1.5 billion-tonne coal production target.