As many as 42 companies have placed their bids physically for commercial coal mining, the government said.
Adani Group firms have placed bids for nine coal blocks under the maiden auction since commercial mining by private sector was allowed. While Adani Enterprises has bid for seven mines, its subsidiaries Adani Power Resources, Chendipada Collieries and Stratatech Mineral Resources bid for one each.
Aditya Birla Group’s Hindalco Industries has bid for five mines and group firm Essel Mining has bid for four.
As FE reported on Wednesday, the Union coal ministry has received bids for only 23 coal mines out of the 38 blocks offered for the auctions. As many as 42 companies have placed their bids physically for commercial coal mining, the government said.
Jindal Steel and Power has placed two bids and its subsidiary, Jindal Power, has bid for another two mines. State government undertaking company Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation has submitted four bids as well.
Vedanta submitted bids for three mines and its subsidiary Bharat Aluminium Company has bid for one block. Real Estate firm Aurobindo Realty has bid for four coal blocks.
As much as 65% of all the bidders do not run industries that require coal, implying that these firms are primarily interested in commercial sale of the fuel.
The Gotitoria East and Gotitoria West blocks in Madhya Pradesh and the Gare Palma IV/7 block in Chhattisgarh have received eight bids each, the highest among all the blocks offered. The Brahmadiha and Urma Paharitola mines in Jharkhand have also received six bids each.
The government on June 18 had launched the maiden auction for coal blocks where private players can participate without any end-use restrictions. This would also be the first set of coal assets to be auctioned off through the new market-determined revenue share model that replaced the fixed fee/tonne regime that turned off private investors. The bids will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary technical evaluation committee and qualified bidders would be shortlisted for participation in the electronic auction to be conducted from October 19, the government said.
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