Lok Sabha Question No. 320 (STARRED), answered on 2018-08-08
Subject: Coal Auction
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: RABINDRA KUMAR JENA

## Government of India Ministry of Coal Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 320 To be answered on 08.08.2018

## Coal Auction

## *320. SHRI RABINDRA KUMAR JENA:

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state:

- (a) whether only approximately 16 per cent of the total allocated coal reserves have been auctioned;
- (b)  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  other  channels  of  allocation  of  coal reserves in the country;
- (c)  whether the fourth and fifth rounds of auctions have been cancelled owing to lack of bidders and if so, the facts thereof;
- (d) the details of coal mines auctioned during the last three years, State-wise; and
- (e)  whether  any  steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure  precise policies,  transparent  transactions  and  transformative  outcomes,  if  so,  the  details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COAL, FINANCE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (e) : A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No.  320  for  answer  on  08.08.2018  asked  by  Shri  Rabindra  Kumar  Jena regarding Coal Auction. (a) and (b): The allocation of coal mines are made under the provisions of the Coal Mines  (Special  Provisions)  Act,  2015  [CM(SP)  Act,  2015]  and  the  Mines  and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 [MM(DR) Act, 1957]. Allocation is made  through  auction  to  public  and  private  sector  companies  and  through allotment to public sector companies. Under the CM (SP) Act, 2015, 84 coal mines have been allocated so far. Out of the originally  allocated  89  Coal  Mines,  Coal  Mine  Development  and Production Agreements have been terminated in respect of 5 Auctioned Coal Mines. Out of the 84 allocated coal mines, 26 have been allocated by way of auction which comprise less  than  10%  of  the  balance  geological  reserves  of  the  total  reserves  of  the allocated  coal  mines.  State-wise  details  of  these  26  auctioned  Coal  Mines  are  at Annexure-I.  Under  the  MM  (DR)  Act,  1957,  19  coal  blocks  have  been  allocated through  allotment  route  to  Central/State  Government  Companies  and  no  coal block has been allocated through auction route. (c):   In  the  4 th   tranche  of  auction, 9 coal mines were put for auction for the  Nonregulated Sector i.e. Iron & Steel, Cement and Captive Power Plants. Due to the low response, online bids were not opened and the 4 th  tranche of auction was annulled. In  the  5 th   tranche,  6  coal  mines  were  put  for  auction  for  the  specified  end  use 'production of Iron & Steel'. As there were less than 3 bidders/technically qualified bidders, the 5 th  tranche of auction was also annulled. (d): During the last three years, that is, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 (till 31.07.2018) two mines, namely, Marki Mangli-I and Majra located in the State of Maharashtra have been auctioned to M/s Topworth Urja and Metals Limited and M/s Jaypee Cement Corporation Limited respectively. (e):  To  keep  the  process  transparent,  the  first  ever  auction  of  coal  mines  were conducted in December, 2014 through e-auction mode on an electronic platform. No  physical  bids  were  accepted  or  considered.  Applications  were  required  to  be submitted  online  for  allotment  of  coal  mines  to  Government  companies  also. Further, to ensure the foolproof security of the E-platform of M/s MSTC, Security Audit  had  also  been  conducted  prior  to  auction  of  coal  mines.  It  was  one  of  the most  transparent  auctions  where  bids  were  placed  on  an  electronic  platform accessible to everyone with an internet connection. In fact, everyone had the option of tracking the progress of the auction on their mobile phones. The Ministry had to augment the server capacity as lakhs of people were viewing the auctions live. The number and names of the companies which had applied were publicly disclosed in open forums where hundreds of bidders were present along with members of the media too. The entire proceedings were videotaped. There were also press releases and  names  were  disclosed  on  the  auction  website.  Technical  and  financial parameters  for  the  qualification  of  bidders  were  clearly  laid  down  in  the  tender document,  which  is  even  today  available  in  the  public  domain  on  the  website. Grounds for disqualification were also clearly mentioned in the tender document. Specific reasons were given to such bidders. The initial bid price (applicable floor price)  and  subsequent  bids  were  also  visible  to  the  public.  The  parameters  for determining the floor price and subsequent bids were part of the methodology and on  public  display  on  the  website.  Thus,  each  and  every  data  point  was  actually available in the public domain.

- *****

| Sl. No   | Name of Coal Mine          | State          | Successful Allottee                          | Sch.   | Bal. Geo. Reserve(MT)     |
|----------|----------------------------|----------------|----------------------------------------------|--------|---------------------------|
| 1        | Chotia                     | Chhattisgarh   | Bharat AluminumCo.Ltd (BALCO)                | II     | 31.56                     |
| 2        | Gare Palma IV - 4          | Chhattisgarh   | HINDALCO (HIL)                               | II     | 35.74                     |
| 3        | Gare Palma IV - 5          | Chhattisgarh   | HINDALCO (HIL)                               | II     | 92.05                     |
| 4        | Gare - Palma Sector - IV/8 | Chhattisgarh   | Ambuja Cements Ltd                           | III    | 107.20                    |
| 5        | Kathautia                  | Jharkhand      | HINDALCO (HIL)                               | II     | 27.25                     |
| 6        | Tokisud North              | Jharkhand      | Essar power MP Ltd                           | II     | 92.92                     |
| 7 - 8    | Brinda and Sasai           | Jharkhand      | Usha Martin Ltd                              | III    | Brinda-17.81 Sasai- 26.34 |
| 9        | Dumri                      | Jharkhand      | HINDALCO (HIL)                               | III    | 55.99                     |
| 10       | Lohari                     | Jharkhand      | Aranya Mines Pvt Ltd                         | III    | 9.99                      |
| 11       | Meral                      | Jharkhand      | Trimula Industries Limited                   | III    | 17.05                     |
| 12       | Moitra                     | Jharkhand      | JSW Steel Ltd                                | III    | 215.78                    |
| 13       | Ganeshpur                  | Jharkhand      | GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Limited (GMR)        | III    | 137.89                    |
| 14       | Jitpur                     | Jharkhand      | Adani Power Limited                          | III    | 81.09                     |
| 15       | Bicharpur                  | Madhya Pradesh | UltraTech Cement Limited                     | II     | 56.20                     |
| 16       | SialGhoghri                | Madhya Pradesh | Reliance Cement Co Pvt Ltd (RCCPL)           | II     | 29.38                     |
| 17       | Amelia North               | Madhya Pradesh | Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd. (JPVL)        | II     | 119.54                    |
| 18       | Belgaon                    | Maharashtra    | Sunflag Iron and Steel Company Limited (SIL) | II     | 19.86                     |
| 19       | MarkiMangli III            | Maharashtra    | B.S. Ispat Limited                           | II     | 5.76                      |
| 20       | Nerad Malegaon             | Maharashtra    | Indrajit Power Pvt Ltd                       | III    | 20.36                     |
| 21       | MarkiMangli-I              | Maharashtra    | Topworth Urja and Metals Ltd (TUML)          |        | 24.11                     |
| 22       | Majra                      | Maharashtra    | Jaypee Cement Corporation Limited            | III    | 31.04                     |
| 23       | Talabira - I               | Odisha         | GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Limited (GMR)        | II     | 19.62                     |
| 24       | Ardhagram                  | West Bengal    | OCL Iron & Steel Ltd.                        | II     | 109.24                    |
| 25       | Sarisatolli                | West Bengal    | CESC Limited (CESC)                          | II     | 139.83                    |
| 26       | Trans Damodar              | West Bengal    | The Durgapur Projects Limited                | II     | 97.15                     |

For schedule-II coal blocks, the reserve already extracted till 31.03.2014 has been deducted from the total reserve and the reserve shown in the table is the balance reserve for these blocks.