Coal India (CIL) plans to ramp up auction offerings by 14 per cent to 137 million tonnes during the current fiscal against the previous year when similar supplies declined 5 per cent. It is expected to bring down premiums in the auctions market and offer respite to independent power, cement, sponge iron companies among others that depend on coal available through auction.
CIL’s auction offerings include long term supply contract auctions, spot e-auctions and forward eauctions. Last year, the dry fuel supplier offered 120 million tonnes through similar auctions which was a 5 per cent drop compared to 2017-18. Increased offerings this year is expected to bring down premiums that touched 92 per cent in the spot market last year as availability through spot e-auctions had dwindled 38 per cent among other reasons like higher international coal prices and rupee depreciation.
Last year, unforeseen demand from power generators forced Coal India to send them additional coal as the sector was grappling with dwindling inventory and many power plants were stranded with critical coal stocks.