(ET)
The government will open up the Indian coal sector with a large offering of over 200 blocks for commercial coal mining in the next five years having a potential to produce at least 400 million tonnes of coal at peak capacity. The government hopes to stop coal imports by power plants by 2024, a senior government official said.
The first tranche of coal auctions for commercial sale purposes is likely to begin this financial year with about 40 coal blocks with peak mining capacity in the range of one million tonnes to 50 million tonnes per annum to cater to needs of all coal consumers, sources said.
The coal ministry is expected to issue bidding rules for commercial coal mine auctions by the end of this month and hold stakeholder consultations next month, the official said. A few large blocks will have peak rated capacity in the range of 30-50 million tonnes per annum, which can ease India’s coal deficit. Last fiscal India imported 235 million tonnes of which 125 million tonnes or about 54% were thermal coal import.
