Govt receives Rs 2,638 cr from buyback of CIL shares

The government has garnered about Rs 2,638 crore from buyback of shares of state-run Coal India Ltd, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

CIL has bought back "7,88,42,816 shares from Government of India out of the total offer of 10,89,55,223 equity shares @ Rs 335 per equity shares. Accordingly, Government of India received around Rs 2,638 crore as buyback proceeds," Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said in a reply to the Lok Sabha.

The proposed buyback of Rs 1,001.8 crore pertained to CIL arm Central Coalfields Ltd. CCL in its board meeting held on March 3 approved to undertake buyback of shares amounting to Rs 1,001.8 crore and submitted its proposal to CIL board.

The valuation submitted by CCL was considered by CIL board in its meeting held on March 6 and accordingly requested CCL to reconsider the valuation for the sake of consistency for undertaking buyback.

"CCL board in its meeting held on March 10, has reconsidered the proposal and decided not to proceed with buyback," Goyal said.

Three subsidiaries of CIL — Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, Northern Coalfields Ltd and South Eastern Coalfields Ltd — undertook buyback of shares last month, he said.

Coal India which accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal production is eyeing a billion tonne output by 2020.