Coal India launches special category of e-auction for coal importers

Any coal buyer, who imported coal during the current and any of the last two financial years, is eligible for participating in this new version of e-auction, CIL said

Coal India (CIL) on Friday launched a special category of e-auction for importers of coal. This is in line with the government’s declaration to bring down coal imports to zero.

Any customer who imported coal during the current year and any of the last two financial years is eligible to participate in this, said the national coal miner.

The minimum bid quantity is pegged at 25,000 tonnes for companies that use road transportation. For those using the rail mode, it is 50,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to 12 rakes. One rake is equivalent to 59 rail wagons.

The company said customers can bid for further incremental quantities of coal if they need.

“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,” said a CIL executive.

The e-auction would take place on the website of MSTC and Mjunction Services. CIL will soon announce the auction calendar for August 2020-March 2021 period, said the executive.

The executive said CIL is on a “mission mode to substitute 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, captive power producers, fertilisers, steel and others who are importing coal as potential customers. These segments of customers have imported around 150 million tonnes of coal during the last fiscal year,” said CIL executive.