India’s ministry of coal kicked off the seventh round of 103 coal blocks auction for user industries today, June 27, opening up submission of technical bids, a government official said.
He said that user industries like steel, cement, fertilizer, thermal power are eligible to submit bids for the coal blocks.
It was pointed out that this was the first round of auction to be held after rules were amended to offer a ‘level playing ground’ with both government and private companies eligible to bid under the same rules.
Also, for the first time, end use restrictions have been removed and hence any successful bidder will be free to use the mined coal for captive consumption or free merchant sale of the production without any restrictions.