Coal India’s allocation under spot e-auction up 49 per cent

New Delhi: State-owned Coal India Ltd has allocated 13.86 million tonne (MT) coal in the first five months of this fiscal under spot e-auction scheme, registering a year-on-year increase of 49.5 per cent.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) had allocated 9.27 MT of coal in the April-August period of the previous fiscal, according to government data. Fuel allocation by CIL under the scheme also increased to 3.36 MT in August, from over 0.61 MT in the corresponding month of previous fiscal.

Coal distribution through e-auction was introduced with a view to provide access to coal for such buyers who are not able to source the dry fuel through the available institutional mechanism, according to CIL website. The purpose of e-auction is to provide equal opportunity to all intending buyers for purchasing coal through single window service.

Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output. Coal India has revised its production target to 650-660 million tonne for the current fiscal in the wake of the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a top company official had earlier said.

The miner had earlier set a production target of 710 million tonne for the 2020-21 fiscal. “Covid-19 pandemic has affected demand for coal. However, demand has started to pick up now as the industries have commenced operations. Given the situation, we are hopeful to end the year with 650-660 million tonne of production,” Coal India chairman Pramod Agrawal had said.