First tranche of commercial coal mine auction generates Rs. 7,000 crore

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  First tranche of commercial coal mine auction generates Rs. 7,000 crore

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Highlights –

1. The first round of coal block auctioning has come to a close, leaving the government coffers richer by 7,000 crore rupees.
2. Union coal and mining minister Pralhad Joshi has claimed that just the first tranche of 19 mines auctioned across five states will provide employment to nearly 70,000 people.
3. The present auctioning of coal blocks to private players is significant as the rules have been simplified much further as compared to earlier.
4. Previously, only organisations with end-use plants, with prior experience and a certain net worth, could bid. But, the new simplified rules meant even a company without prior experience in coal mining could bid, and were free to sell the coal commercially.
5. The cabinet committee on economic affairs has approved the auctioning on a revenue sharing basis, but with full freedom to the winners to sell the coal, unlike before.

Important details – 

1. The first auctions under the new regulation were flagged off by PM Modi on June 18. While there were 38 coal blocks in total up for grabs, only 23 got bids, and only 19 got more than one bid, which went under the hammer over the past week.
2. 11 of these are opencast, 5 underground and 3 mixed-use. The coal blocks were spread across five states—Madhya Pradesh (8), Jharkhand (5), Odisha (2), Chhattisgarh (2) and Maharashtra (2).
3. A total of 42 companies participated in the auctions, with final winners including the likes of Adani, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta and the Aditya Birla group.
4. Two public sector undertakings were also among the list of winners, including the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Corp which won Brahmadiha coal block in Jharkhand by offering the government a particularly high revenue share of 41%.
5. The mine has reserves of 50 lakh tonnes only but is expected to gain revenues of 114 crore rupees once peak capacity is reached.

Note – 

1. India has one of the largest coal reserves in the world, yet also remains one of the largest importers as well.
2. The Modi government has repeatedly argued that this skewed ratio has to change, with the post-Covid new economic order forcing the government to step up its measures for self-reliance, particularly in the area of energy.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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