Coal India hopes to end the fiscal with auction bookings of 120 mt

Encouraged by the buoyancy in its e-auction coal sales, Coal India Ltd (CIL) is optimistic of closing the current fiscal with auction bookings of 120 million tonnes (mt).

During April to December 2020, CIL witnessed over 76 per cent growth in sale through auction route and booked 81.4 mt of coal under five auction windows as compared to 46.2 mt in the same period last year. Beginning October’20 of the current fiscal, the company introduced special spot auction for coal importers, under which it has already booked 7.3 mt in three months, said a press statement issued by CIL.

“Auction sales have surpassed our previous estimates and we feel sure of allocating 120 mt of coal by the end of the current fiscal,” a senior company official said in the release.

It would be the highest ever since coal sales began under the auction hammer, the release added.

The company had laid concentrated efforts to book increased volumes of coal under e-auction to bolster sales revenue, especially in view of the narrowed margins in add-ons during the Covid pandemic period.

Apart from increased volume bookings, premium over notified price has been gaining steadily since October with CIL as whole netting a 15 per cent premium during April-December’20. Among the subsidiaries, Eastern Coalfields Ltd clocked the highest 40 per cent increase over the notified prices with Central Coalfields and Bharat Coking Coal registering 23 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.

“We have identified specific mines in ECL, BCCL, CCL and SECL from where the response has been positive in e-auction and there is potential for further increase,” the official said.

Non-power sector

Non-power sector consumers, under an exclusive auction window, booked 19.8 mt during the first nine months of the ongoing fiscal posting more than a three-fold increase against 6.8 mt the sector booked on a year-on-year comparison.

For December’20, CIL allocated 13.1 mt of coal surging ahead with 72 per cent growth compared to 7.6 mt in December’19. Premium earned over the notified price was 25 per cent.