The Indian government, as part of the country’s first-ever auction to commercially mine and sell coal, successfully auctioned 19 mines with a combined capacity of 51 Mt/year. Almost 65% of the bidders were from "non-end users", i.e. not active in coal mining or coal-fired power generation.
In January 2020, the government promulgated the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 that aims at attracting investors in the coal mining sector by removing restrictions on end-use and prior experience in coal auctions. India launched the auction process of coal blocks for commercial mining without any end-use restrictions in June 2020 and a total of 38 coal mines were put for auction. 82 bids were received for 23 mines, wherein 19 mines received two or more bids and were found eligible for opening of technical bids; the remaining 15 mines did not receive any bid.
According to the government, India's coal production is expected to reach 700 Mt in the current fiscal year (April 2020-March 2021), corresponding to a 16% annual increase. The government aims at stopping most of substitutable coal imports and bets on the higher domestic production.
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