CIL eases mine-specific supply policy for small consumers

Coal India Ltd has relaxed the norms for "mine-specific coal supply" policy, which would ease availability of the dry fuel to consumers having less than one million tonne of requirement per annum.

The move would benefit a large number of the mining major's linked small consumers, the company said.

"The policy norms have been relaxed considerably to accommodate greater number of consumers under the ambit of the policy. The minimum per annum requirement of the consumer has been downsized to a quarter from 1 million tonne of coal to 0.25 million tonne," a CIL official said.

The policy was conceived in 2011 to enable the consumer to benefit from assured supply from a preferred source, and gain from reduction in logistic costs.

However, the old policy was applicable to consumers having a minimum requirement of one million tonne of coal per annum. Further, the mine from which the coal was sourced had to have a capacity of 2.5 million tonne per annum.

The relaxed norms brings down the eligibility from 2.5 million tonne per annum production capacity to one million tonne per annum.