Comments
The auction of three coal blocks, including one to the Naveen Jindal Group, is under the Coal Ministry scanner for the low winning bids.
Within days of auction of the first set of coal blocks, the Coal Ministry has directed the Nominated Authority to re-examine three bids which were won by Balco and BS Ispat and the Naveen Jindal Group.
The multiple sources that confirmed this development to BusinessLine , however, did not name the blocks as “investigations were on”.
“If some tampering is found in the bid process, the blocks may be re-auctioned,” said one official.
Though the auctions for 19 blocks (including seven reserved for power) were completed by February 22, the final agreements are yet to be signed.
While most of the non-power sector blocks sold for ₹2,000/tonne, BS ISPAT won Marki Mangli III at the lowest rate of ₹918/tonne.
This asset has extractable reserves of 3.58 million tonnes. Balco bagged Gare Palma IV/1, with reserves of 49.57 million tonnes, for ₹1,585/tonne.
Jindal Power bid successfully for Gare Palma IV/2&3, with the highest reserves of 155.49 million tonnes, for ₹108 a tonne.
Power sector bidsThe seven blocks reserved for power sector saw aggressive bidding, the highest being by Essar Power at ₹1,110 a tonne.
The Coal Ministry had defended the award on the ground that the value generated by the power tariff reduction, which gets passed on to the consumer, needed also to be considered.
Later this week begins the next phase of auctions for 21 ready-to-produce mines. The technical bids for these blocks open on Monday.
Meanwhile, for the 43 blocks reserved for public sector entities (both Central and State), the Ministry has received 107 applications. Gare Palma II in Chhattisgarh got the highest number of applications with nine PSUs showing interest.
The total number of blocks for allotment to the PSUs was increased to 43 from 35 because of the overwhelming response. As many as 69 PSUs had applied for the 35 blocks. The allotment process is expected to be completed by April 2.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.