Cabinet relaxes norms to mine, sell coal; entry for foreign players eased

The announcement comes four years after the Centre enabled commercial mining and sale of coal by private companies under the CMSP Act, 2015

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday relaxed the qualification criteria and regulations for mining and selling coal in the country. With this, the entry of foreign players and non-coal dependent companies in the coal mining sector has been eased. So far, only companies involved in the power, metals and mining industry could participate in bidding for coal blocks.

The amended rules will also imply more sellers of coal, which is currently in the hands of state-owned Coal India Limited. Also, all end-use restrictions have been removed. Under the new regime, existing private coal block owners would be able to sell surplus coal