SC scraps some coal blocks allocated since 1993

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that companies will have to return most of the coal blocks allocated illegally to them by the government since 1993, which could worsen an already severe shortage of the fuel in the short-term and raise imports.

The court ruled last month that the country's decades-old method of granting coal mining concessions was illegal and arbitrary, putting investments worth billions of dollars at risk.

The ruling sent shares of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd , Hindalco Industries Ltd and Tata Power Co Ltd sharply lower. The firms have already spent heavily on steel and power plants based around the coal blocks.

(Reporting by Suchitra Mohanty; Editing by Tom Hogue)