Centre auctions 3 coal blocks, likely to attract Rs 7,350 crore investment

New Delhi, Nov 25 The Ministry of Coal on Wednesday successfully completed the auction of three coal blocks in Jharkhand and Odisha under the 13th round of commercial coal mine auctions, which are likely to attract a capital investment of nearly Rs 7,350 crore, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday.

These three blocks are poised to generate annual revenue of approximately Rs 4,620.69 crore and create 66,248 employment opportunities, the statement said.

Damodar Valley Corporation has emerged as the highest bidder for the three coal blocks comprising Pirpainti Barahat and Dhulia North in Jharkhand, and Mandakini-B in Odisha.

The three fully explored coal blocks together hold geological reserves of approximately 3,306.58 million tonnes, with a cumulative Peak Rated Capacity (PRC) to produce 49 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

Since the inception of commercial coal mining in 2020, a total of 136 coal blocks, with a production capacity of 325.04 Million Tonnes per year, have been successfully auctioned. Once operational, these blocks will substantially enhance domestic coal production and advance the nation’s goal of becoming self-reliant in the coal sector. Collectively, these coal blocks are estimated to yield annual revenue of Rs 43,330 crore, mobilise capital investment of Rs 48,756 crore, and generate 4,39,447 employment opportunities across coal-bearing regions.

The ministry launched the 13th round of commercial coal block auctions on August 21. Following this, the forward auctions were conducted from November 20 to November 25. The round offers both fully and partially explored blocks, and includes reforms like incentives for early production and updated penalties for delays.

As part of the coal sector reforms, the government has moved from an earlier restrictive model to granting coal mining blocks pursuant to a competitive bidding process, and from prescribing specific end-use to permitting commercial sale of coal. The auction-based regime introduced in 2014 allowed private sector participation; however, it was limited to captive usage in own end-use plants. Now, the sector has been opened up for commercial coal mining by private players in 2020.

Commercial coal block auctions are conducted in a two-stage online bidding process, which involves technical screening and submission of competitive initial price offers in the first stage, and a second and final stage where better price offers are intended to be received.

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