India proposes adoption of rolling coal auctions
India has proposed to adopt a ‘rolling auction’ mechanism for conducting coal auctions under which a pool of coal blocks will always remain available for auctions, coal minister Pralhad Joshi said on Thursday.
“With rolling auctions, we will upload a comprehensive list of mines along with key technical data and bidders can submit their preferences for the mines to be included in the next tranche of auction. This would be a continuous process and would result in expediting the auction setup. Moreover, it will also help bidders in planning better and would further enhance transparency in the system,” Joshi said.
Coal is the first mineral resource where rolling auction mechanism is being implemented.
The country launched on Thursday second tranche of auction for commercial coal mining offering 67 mines for sale of coal. “This is the highest number of mines on offer in a particular tranche of auction after commencement of the auction regime since 2014,” an official statement said.
The coal mines on offer are a mix of mines with small and large reserves, coking and non-coking mines and fully and partially explored mines spread across six states Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
