The Ministry of Coal has received an unprecedented response to the coal block auctions under the sixth round and second attempt of the fifth round of commercial coal block auctions that was launched on November 3rd, 2022. The last date for submission of technical bids was January 30th, 2023. A total of 99 bids for 36 coal mines have been received in physical form. For the 6th round, two or more bids were received for 25 coal mines, a single bid for 7 mines, and 10 bids for 4 mines in the 2nd attempt of the 5th round. This is the biggest response received for commercial coal mine auctions that were launched by the Prime Minister on June 18th, 2020.
It may be recalled that Coal Ministry had taken a number of reforms in this auction round permission to relinquish part mine, reduction in the upfront amount and bid security, the introduction of the National Lignite Index, no revision of NCI till the operationalization of the mine, etc. It may be noted that till now the Ministry has successfully conducted five rounds of auctions in the most transparent manner and auctioned 64 blocks with 152 Million Ton (MT) PRC. Once these blocks are operational, they will generate more than Rs.20,000 crores to the States as annual revenue, leading to direct and indirect employment of more than two lacks.
The online bids received as part of the auction process will open at 10:00 AM on January 31st, 2023 in the presence of interested bidders.
**News Source: PIB India**