Coal India Ltd (CIL) has introduced a special spot e-auction scheme for importers. The move would help the company step up its sales and reduce India’s dependence on imports.

Any Indian buyer, including traders, who imported coal any time after March 2018 would be eligible to participate in the new version of e-auction, said a press statement issued by CIL.

“This move is in a bid to attain the government’s thrust on reducing coal import dependency of the country under the AatmaNirbharta plan. It would also open a new avenue for our coal companies to step up their sales,” a senior official said in the release.

The minimum bid quantity is pegged at 25,000 tonnes under the scheme, if delivery is by road (trucks). The buyer can opt for additional lots of 1,000 tonnes. In case of transportation by rail mode, the minimum quantity would be 50,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to 12 rakes (one rake is equivalent to 59 rail wagons). Buyers can bid for further incremental quantities of coal if they require and it should be in the multiples of 4,000 tonnes in case of rail mode.

CIL would soon notify the e-auction calendar of the scheme for the August 2020 to March 2021 period. The service providers would be MSTC Ltd and Mjunction Services Ltd. The programme for the e-auction would be notified minimum seven days in advance on the website of both CIL and its subsidiary companies.

CIL, which is redrawing its marketing strategy, has taken up on a mission mode the task of substituting imported coal with its own, to step up its supplies. In the process, the company has identified domestic coal-based power plants and non-power sector consumers largely made up of sponge iron, cement, CPPs, fertilisers, steel and others who are importing coal as potential customers. These segments of customers have imported around 150 million tonne (mt) of coal during the last fiscal, the release said.

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