On March 29, 2023, the Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal, began the auction procedure for 103 coal/lignite mines for the selling of coal. The deadline for submitting Technical Bids for all coal mines was June 27, 2023. Technical Bids, which included both online and offline bid documents, were opened today (June 28, 2023) as part of the auction process. In the presence of the bidders, the online bids were decrypted and opened electronically. Following that, sealed envelopes holding offline bid paperwork were opened in front of bidders. The entire process was shown to the bidders on screen.

A total of 35 bids (both online and offline) were received in two tranches of commercial coal mine auctions (7th tranche and 2nd try of 6th tranche). In the seventh batch of auctions, a total of 34 bids were received both online and offline against 17 coal mines, with two bids received solely online but not offline. Two or more offers were received for seven coal mines, totaling 24 bids (both online and offline) for seven coal mines, while ten coal mines received single bids (both online and offline). Nine of the 17 coal mines have been partially investigated, while the remaining mines have been fully explored. The total peak rated capacity (PRC) of fully developed coal mines is 47.80 million tons per year.

Under 2nd Attempt of Sixth tranche, a total of 5 coal mines were put up for auctions and one bid has been received against 1 coal mine which is a fully explored non-coking coal mine. The PRC of the coal mine is 4 MTPA.

The bids will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary Technical Evaluation Committee and Technically Qualified Bidders will be shortlisted for participation in the electronic auction, to be conducted on MSTC portal shortly.

See also:
Cabinet greenlights Rs 29.80 bn for Coal and Lignite Exploration
India to close 30 coal mines, promote reforestation