Cabinet ends Coal India monopoly, allows commercial mining by private firms

Move will allow both domestic and foreign players to sell the fuel in open market as a commodity, at market-determined prices

Private companies would soon be able to mine and sell coal in India, alongside state-owned Coal India (CIL).

Four years after enabling commercial mining and sale of coal through the Coal Ordinance (Special Provisions), 2014, the Cabinet on Tuesday approved a bidding process for commercial mining.

Coal Secretary Susheel Kumar said the auction would be on a transparent online platform. “There will no end-use and price restriction. It would be up to the players to bring down prices in the open market.” Companies would also be free to export.

Piyush Goyal, minister for coal and railways, said: “The quality of coal would improve