India invites Coal mine bids ending decades-old State monopoly
India officially started opening its coal sector to non-State firms, seeking to end a decades-long government monopoly on mining and selling the fuel.
The country on Thursday launched its first auction process, which will cover 41 mines, the Ministry of Coal said in a statement.
The Ministry expects the mines to generate 330-billion rupees of capital investment over the next five to seven years, and boost the nation’s yearly output by as much as 225-million tons.
Despite a global shift away from coal to cleaner energy like wind and solar generation, India is seeking to boost production as a way to help the country recover from the economic toll of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ministry estimates the mines will directly employ nearly 70 000 people and earn states extra annual revenue of 200-billion rupees.
“States will earn higher revenues and local people people will get jobs,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a ceremony marking the event. Private sector investment will bring in new capital and technology and help India reduce imports of the fuel, he added.
Technical bids are due Aug. 18, and the process is open to companies with no mining experience. That will be followed by auctions, which will require bidders to propose a portion of revenue they’re willing to share with the government. No date has been set yet for the auctions.
Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta Resources and N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, attended the ceremony through video-conference.
India brought coal mining under state control in 1973, with formation of Coal India in 1975. In 1993, the government allowed companies to mine coal for their own use. Modi started the process of further easing government control over the industry soon after his first term in New Delhi began in 2014.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation















