The participation of private players in the coal mining sector will bring efficiency and lead to the competitive pricing of the dry fuel, Coal Joint Secretary M Nagaraju said on Friday addressing 2nd Stakeholder Consultation of Auction of Coal Mines for Commercial Mining organised by FICCI, the Industry Partner of the initiative. He also said that non-competitive pricing of coal has seen imports of dry fuel rising constantly over the last five to six years.
“One reason why imports have been rising regularly in the last 5-6 years is not very competitive pricing in the coal industry in the country,” Nagaraju said during the second stakeholders’ consultation on the auction of coal mines for commercial mining, organised by FICCI.
With the private sector, he said, there will be efficiency and lowering of prices of fossil fuel, which may lead to either completely stop coal imports or drastically reduce it. “There is no reason why we should be importing thermal coal into the country, spending huge amount of money,” he said.
He noted that India is a country which has fourth-largest reserves of coal and still it is importing dry fuel. The country imported about 247 million tonnes of coal last fiscal, spending almost around 1.57 lakh crore of foreign exchange, the official said. Nagaraju said once the proposed coal blocks on auction are operationalised, almost 220 million tonnes of dry fuel will be produced every year.
“The schedule II mines which are five, we expect them to be operationalized within nine months and the other mines we expect them to be operationalised in five to five-and-a-half years,” he said. Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the auction process of coal blocks for commercial mining.
The coal ministry has withdrawn Bander mine in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra from the list of 41 coal blocks put up for auction for commercial mining as the mine lies in the eco-sensitive zone of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.
Launching the auction of mines for commercial mining, that is expected to garner Rs 33,000 crore of capital investment in the country over next 5-7 years, Modi had said India will win the coronavirus war and turn this crisis into an opportunity, and the pandemic will make India self-reliant. The launch not only marks the beginning of unlocking of the country’s coal sector from the lockdown of decades but also aims at making India the largest exporter of coal, he had said.
Presently, despite being the world’s fourth-largest producer, India is the second-largest importer of the dry fuel, Modi had said noting that the auction process will result in major revenues to states and create employment besides developing the far-flung areas. The commencement of auction process of these blocks, part of the series of announcements made under ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’, is likely to contribute Rs 20,000 crore revenue annually to state governments.
Complete Replay of the 2nd Stakeholder Consultation is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj5fMowgePA
