India gets 40 bids for commercial coal mines

India has received a total of 40 bids for some of the 32 commercial coal mines that were made available for auctioning in December, the government said in a statement on Monday, adding the bids would be opened on Feb. 20.

The world’s second largest coal user, India began auctioning coal blocks to private companies in 2018, ending restrictions on the sale and use of the fuel, which was dominated by Coal India until then.

Output from mines auctioned to private companies is expected to boost production of coal by over 40% to 20 million metric tons in 2024/25, Reuters reported earlier this month.

“A total of 33 bids have been received … where two or more bids have been received for eight coal mines and single bids have been received for 5 coal mines,” the statement said.

The remaining seven bids have been received for a second attempt to auction a tranche of three coal mines, it added.

(By Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Mark Potter)