Eleven coal importers, including Adani Enterprises, Mohit Minerals and Chettinad Logistics Pvt Ltd, and a couple of coal exporting agencies from abroad, have shown interest in Coal India’s e-tender for imports.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) held three pre-bid meetings between June 14 and June 17 with prospective importing agencies, who had evinced interest in the three international competitive bidding e-tenders that the company had floated earlier this month for import of coal.

The meetings were organised to help biddersgain a better understanding of the bid document, scope of work, and, importantly, iron out the crimps, according to a press statement issued by CIL.

“A total of eleven coal importers joined the session with CIL officials. The prominent Indian agencies among them were Adani Enterprises, Mohit Minerals and Chettinad Logistics. A couple of coal exporting agencies from abroad have also shown interest, including one from Indonesia,” the release said.

Adani Enterprises, which has expressed participation in Coal India’s bids, owns and operates Carmichael mine in the Galilee Basin of Queensland through its subsidiary Adani Mining Pty Ltd. The company had started supplying coal from the Galilee Basin to countries in Asia, including India in early 2022. The mine is delivering 10 million tonne of coal per annum, according to official sources.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Adani had also received a massive Rs 8400-crore contract from the State power major NTPC to supply coal. However, the coal was to come from Indonesia and not from Adani’s Australia mines. However, for CIL’s tender, some of the Indonesian players have also expressed interest. Notably, Adani had sourced Indonesian coal for NTPC as well as for its own power project in Mundra, Kutch.

Request for amendments in tender

Bidders requested some amendments in the tender, including narrowing the time window of the bid price validity from 90 days to 60 days. They also sought time for supply of the first tranche of shipment, between four-to-six weeks from the date of letter of award. Earlier, the supply schedule was based on a particular percentage of delivery, spread over two to three months.

“Taking cognisance of their requests, CIL amended the bid document and a corrigendum has been floated on the e-procurement portal to hasten the process,” it said.

Quantity assessment and quality testing of the coal that lands on Indian shores would be done through CIL’s empaneled third-party sampling agencies.

Coal imports to tide over possible shortfall

To tide over a possible shortfall in availability of coal during the ensuing monsoon months, CIL had previously floated a short-term indent-based international competitive bid for 2.416 million tonnes (mt) on behalf of the State gencos and Independent Power Plants (IPPs) .

Close on the heels of this development, two more medium-term tenders for 3 mt each at the western and eastern ports were floated to keep coal on tap for immediate availability and future use. The last date for receipt of bids for a short-term tender is June 29, while that for a medium- term tender is July 5.

The Centre had nominated CIL as the central agency to augment coal supplies to state gencos and IPPs through import of coal, at a time of high demand. It had directed the coal miner to import 12 mt for power utilities for the next 13 months up to July 2023.

(with inputs from Rutam Vora/Ahmedabad)

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