New Delhi: State-owned CIL on Tuesday said the total coal allocation under its four e-auction windows registered about 65 per cent year-on-year rise during the first half of the current financial year. Coal India Ltd (CIL) booked 41.4 million tonnes (MT) raw coal in e-auctions during April-September 2020, compared with 25.1 MT booked in the corresponding period last fiscal,” the company said in a statement.
The increase in volume terms stood at 16.3 MT, it added.
With the industrial and commercial activities reviving after the unlock, CIL is hopeful that the demand sustains and the sales get boosted soon.
With no dearth of coal, the company is confident of meeting the increased demand, it said.
Last year’s coal import trend showed that 40 percent of the imports of dry-fuel were by traders.
CIL decided to give more thrust in auction sales that resulted in higher volumes.
This is also in line with the government’s push on ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in the energy sector, it said.
“Even with the pandemic slowdown, CIL could net 10 per cent average premium over notified value in the first six months of the current fiscal as compared to 48 per cent of the same period year, but the aim was to increase volume supplies,” the company said.
It added that the company anticipated the liquidity crunch that COVID-19 would bring to its customers and brought down the reserve price close to zero to help them lift more coal during the lockdown phase.
In two tranches of three months each, CIL kept down its reserve price beginning April till September.
After the company’s board has given its nod, CIL for its October auctions has injected a rise in reserve price ranging from zero up to a maximum of 10 per cent over the notified price, as a dipstick survey to gauge the market response.
Based on the market reaction and the premium fetched from sale prices, the company will decide on a reserve price for November.
