Coal news and updates

Coal allocation: Adani Power arrives with 11 bids for six blocks

JSPL, Essar, GMR, Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Balco among contestants

Gautam Adani-promoted Adani Power has joined the race for coal block reallocation with all its might. Adani Power has made 11 bids for six of a total 19 blocks being auctioned under the second phase of the coal block allocation process. These blocks belong to Schedule-III, about-to-produce mines without any associated end-use infrastructure.

The technical bids for these 19 blocks was opened on Sunday. Naveen Jindal's Jindal Steel & Power, the biggest loser as the fallout of a Supreme Court's judgment in August 2014, closely followed with eight bids, four each for two blocks.

Two of its richest de-allocated blocks, Utkal B1 & B2 with a cumulative mineable capacity of 200 million tonnes (mt), were dropped out of the bid process, following a review petition in the Delhi High Court.

Six blocks kept for the power sector would witness a massive fight in the e-auction, as the sector majors have put in multiple technical bids. Blocks for the unregulated sector, which has some of the biggest mines in its kitty, are likely to see the former owners put in a tough fight. Gare Palma-IV/8, with a capacity of 107 million tonnes, has 13 bidders in the fray, with four bids from JSPL alone. The block belonged to Jayaswal Neco.
 
Utkal-C coal blocks saw the highest bids of 16 with Adani Power putting three bids and Jindal Steel & Power two. GMR Energy, Lanco, Essar and Sesa Sterlite were also among the bidders. Ganeshpur (137 mt) coal block also witnessed high interest with 10 bids.

The names of those who submitted technical bids for the coming e-auction of Schedule-III mines were disclosed on Sunday. These will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary technical evaluation committee to shortlist bidders for participation in the electronic auction to be conducted on the MSTC portal from February 25 running till March 3.

The government plans a two-pronged strategy for e-auction of cancelled coal blocks. Where end-use is generation of power, there will be a reverse auction. Unregulated sectors - steel, cement, iron ore and captive power generation - will follow the forward-bidding model.

The government promulgated an ordinance for re-allocating the blocks cancelled by the Supreme Court last year, citing these illegal.

Source: Business Standard