FDI in coal mining requires better pricing, logistics and regulation

The ministry of coal's five-year vision plan for FY19-24 did not accounted for any production from commercial miners

The Union Cabinet’s approval on August 28 for opening commercial coal mining to the 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) gave the impression of major reform in a sector dominated by state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL). Closer inspection suggests that the announcement was part of a continuum of creeping reform in the sector, which began with the auction of captive mines in 2014. That was the upshot of a Supreme Court decision to de-allocate these mines, the result of a controversy under the previous United Progressive Alliance.  

Strictly speaking, there has been no bar on FDI before. The Cabinet