Coal Allocation For Spot E-Auction Falls 8.19% In April-January
For January, coal allocation for e-auction fell to 3.62 million tonnes from 4.83 MT a year ago.
Coal India Ltd. allocated 24.87 million tonnes of dry fuel for the spot electronic auction during April-January, down 8.19 percent over the same period of last year.
The state-owned miner had allocated 27.09 million tonnes of coal in the year-ago period, according to the government data. For January 2020, coal allocation for the e-auction scheme declined to 3.62 MT from 4.83 MT a year ago.
Coal distribution through e-auction was introduced to provide access to the fossil fuel for buyers who are not able to source it through available institutional mechanism. The purpose of e-auction is to provide equal opportunity to all intending buyers for purchasing coal through a single-window service. Coal India accounts for over 80 percent of domestic coal output.
The miner’s coal allocation under spot e-auction scheme declined 37.7 percent to 34.34 MT in 2018-19. The government had earlier asked the company to fast-track its ambitious 1-billion-tonne production target and achieve the goal by 2023-24. Coal India had said it would meet the target by 2025-26. Coal India is targeting an output of 660 million tonnes in the ongoing fiscal.