Business
Another Rs.12,600 crore from Day Three of coal auctions
New Delhi, March 7
The government stands to
gain an additional Rs.12,600 crore on Day Three of the coal auction on
Saturday, potentially swelling its kitty by nearly Rs.145,000 crore from
the 19 rounds in the first tranche and the three rounds thus far in the
second leg, as per the latest data.
The Tara coal block in
Chhattisgarh went to Jindal Power and the Dumri block in Jharkhand to
Hindalco in the latest round. The third block on offer, Nerad-Malegaon
in Maharashtra, went to Indrajit Power.
"Hindalco is highest
bidder at Rs.2,127 (per tonne) for Dumri and Jindal Power at Rs.126 (per
tonne) for Tara coal block," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted, as
bidding ended.
This final bid cost works out to Rs.9,800 crore for the Tara block and Rs.2,100 crore for Dumri.
Indrajit Power bid the highest for Nared Malegaon at Rs.660 per tonne - or a little over Rs.660 crore.
Under the bidding process, participants are required to submit an initial financial bid along with the technical details.
On
the actual date of the e-auction, the qualified bidder is permitted to
anonymously submit as many final price offers as desired.
While the highest bid can be viewed, the name of the bidder will not be divulged.
Each
subsequent bid has to be made with an increment of Rs.2, within the
notified start and the closing time. The successful bidder will then be
immediately notified thereafter.
The auction has a clause that
extractable reserves of the allotted coal mine cannot exceed 150 percent
of the annual coal requirement of the specified end-use plant over a
period of 30 years.
As regards the payment, an upfront amount has
been notified for each block. An amount of 50 percent of that is
payable immediately, 25 percent upon the execution of the mining lease
and the remaining upon the grant of mine opening permission.
The
licencee shall also make monthly payments on the basis of the final
price and it will have to be made within 20 days of the expiry of each
month. There will also be an escalation in the price annually, based on a
reference mechanism that will be published in the first week of April.