Singareni Collieries looks for consultant on overseas plans

Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) is on the hunt for a consultant to provide advice on implementing its plans to pursue overseas coal mine acquisition opportunities.

"We are thinking to appoint a consultant to access the opportunities. And how to go about it," SCCL Chairman and Managing Director Narsing Rao told PTI.

The coal firm -- whose base of operations is currently restricted to its home state of Andhra Pradesh -- plans to come out with a tender for appointment of the consultant at the beginning of the next financial year.

"We find a good business opportunity in acquiring coal mines overseas," Rao said.

The PSU, which has cash reserves of Rs 1,100 crore, has so far not acquired any overseas mines.

Keen to ramp up its output to cater to burgeoning demand, SCCL had last month requested the government to give it development rights to three coal mines outside Andhra Pradesh.

This was not the first time that the public sector firm requested the government to allocate these mines. The public sector firm had first requested the Coal Ministry to allocate the three mines situated in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, with a cumulative production capacity of 12 million tonne per annum (MTPA), three years ago.

Against demand for 70 million tonne of coal from its customers last fiscal, the public sector firm could only supply 50 million tonne of coal. The CMD had expressed concerns that the demand-supply gap might escalate from 20 million tonne in 2010-11 to 25 million tonne by the end of the current fiscal.

Coal production from SCCL's 52 mines -- 36 underground and 16 open cast in Khammam, Karimnagar, Adilabad and Warangal districts of Andhra Pradesh -- stood at 51.32 million tonne last fiscal. The state-owned firm has set a coal production target of 53.4 million tonne for the ongoing financial year.