Coal auctions: Govt raises Rs 4,364 crore in third round

The third tranche of coal auctions that came to an end on Thursday saw the government kitty swell by a total of Rs 4,364 crore, including Rs 1,835 crore from Majra mine in Maharashtra for which Jaypee Cement emerged as the highest bidder. On the first day of the current round on Tuesday, the government auctioned two blocks in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, which fetched Rs 2,529 crore. "J P Cements emerged as the highest bidder quoting Rs 1,230 a tonne for Majra Coal Block," Nominated Authority for auctions and Joint Secretary, Coal Vivek Bharadwaj told agency after the cement major emerged as the highest bidder for the block amid players like ACC Cement and JK Lakshmi Cement in the fray.

This time the government had to bear with proceeds of just Rs 4,364 crore from the auctions as legal tangle and other issues became roadblocks and forced it to put on block barely three out of the proposed 10 mines during the third round. The Majra coal mine has extractable reserves of 14.92 million tonnes (MT) and on the basis of highest bidding amount of Rs 1,230 a tonne, it will fetch government Rs 1,835 crore. Besides ACC, Jaypee Cement and JK Lakshmi, other companies in the race for this mine were Crest Steel and Power, Emami Cement, and Grace Industries.

Majra mine was earlier allotted to Gondwana Ispat. The present auctions saw two Topworth Group companies besides Jaypee Cement emerging as highest bidders for three blocks. The auctions resumed today after pause for a day due to legal issues.

The government had fetched over Rs 2 lakh crore from auction of 29 mines earlier in the year in the first and second rounds of bidding with massive response from a large number of players. The coal block auction had hit a legal hurdle yesterday, forcing the government to defer the auction of one mine and withdraw another from the third tranche, in which firms like Hindalco, JSPL and Vedanta technically qualified. "Consequent to hearing dated August 11, 2015 in writ petition (C) 7630/2015 (Kolkata Glass and Ceramics Pvt Ltd vs UOI) before High Court of Delhi, the e-auction of Chitarpur Coal Mine shall not be held on August 12, 2015," the government has said yesterday deferring it's auction.