First Tranche of Coal Mine Auction to Generate Rs 7,000 crores of revenue

November 9, 2020

On November 9, 2020, the Coal Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi announced that the 19 mines were auctioned during first tranche of coal mine auction. The first tranche of the auction is to generate revenue of Rs 7,000 crores. The auctioned mines have peak rated capacity of 51 million tonnes.

Key Highlights

Of the 19 auctioned mines, 11 were open cast, five were of underground and three were of mix category. The mines are located in the states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. According to the Coal ministry, the state governments were consulted throughout the auction process.

Background

The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi launched the auction process of 41 blocks of commercial mining in June 2020.

Commercial mining of Coal

India is the second largest importer of coal. To reduce the dependence of India on coal imports and to increase domestic coal mining, the Government of India opened the coal mines to private sector.

What were the reforms introduced?

Around 50 blocks of coal mining are to be offered to the private sector. It is to be awarded on the basis of revenue sharing basis. The coal liquefaction and gasification is to be incentivised. Also, Coal bed methane extraction rights are to be auctioned under coal mines auctions.

Coal Bed Methane

The Coal Bed Methane is found in 12 states in India. They are Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh , Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Of These, the Gondwana sediments are holding the bulk of these sediments.