Adani Power, Usha Martin bag mines in 2nd leg of coal auction

Usha Martin bid the highest at (Rs 1804) for Brinda and Sasai coal block

Adani Power bagged Jitpur mine in Jharkhand while Usha Martin won Brinda and Sisai mines in the same state in the second tranche of coal mine auction that began today.

"Usha Martin is the highest bidder at (Rs) 1804 for Brinda and Sasai coal block," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted.

Brinda and Sasai coal mines have total extractable reserves of 25.40 million tonnes (MT). Brinda and Sasai are two coal mines but government came out with one bid for both.

The mines put up for auction today were for the non-power sector and mode of auction was forward e-auction.

Usha Martin beat BALCO, Sesa Sterlite and Easternrange Coal Mining Pvt Ltd to bag Brinda and Sisai mines in Chatra in Jharkhand. The two blocks were earlier alloted to Abhijeet Infrastructure Pvt Ltd.

Adani Power has bagged the Jitpur mine, according to an official.

"Jitpur closes at (Rs) 302 (per tonne)," Swarup tweeted.

Jitpur coal block in the Godda district of Jharkhand has extractable reserves of 65.535 million tonnes (MT).

Besides Adani Power, the companies that were vying for Jitpur mine - earmarked for the power sector - are Adhunik Power and Natural Resources, Jaiprakash Power Ventures and Jindal Power.

Jitpur mine was earlier allocated to Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL).

On the first day of the second leg of the auction, four mines -- Jitpur, Brinda, Sasai and Moitra -- were up for grabs.

"Moitra at (Rs) 1266 (per tonne); bidding in progress," Swarup said on the micro-blogging site.

For Moitra mine, earmarked for non-power sector, the companies in the race include Jayaswal Neco Industries Ltd, JSW Steel and SAIL.

Moitra mine in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand has extractable reserves of 29.91 MT. It was earlier alloted to Jayaswal Neco.

There are two methods of bidding for auction of coal blocks--forward bidding (for unregulated sectors like steel, cement and captive power) and reverse bidding (for specified end use for power generation).

In the reverse auction, the government sets a ceiling price that is representative of production cost of Coal India. The private sector companies, which are considered more efficient, are expected to bid at lower price.

For example, if the ceiling price is Rs 1,000 and the bidder bids Rs 800, then the benefit of Rs 200 is directly passed on to consumers. This would mean if the power is sold at Rs 3.50, out of which Re 1 is cost coal and the same will become 80 paise because of pass through benefit of Rs.200. Thus, the new price of power will be Rs 3.30 a unit.

In case the bids touch zero, meaning that the private producer is ready to pass on the benefit of coal extraction to power consumers, there would be a forward bidding.

Under the forward bidding, the companies will be required to mention the price which they are willing to give to States.

The e-auction proceeds from the first lot of mines is over Rs 1 lakh crore.