Coal India recasts e-auction sales while confronting financial stress

Cash realisation has come up as a major challenge to Coal India (CIL) with net cash flows from operations drastically falling. The company is in a bid to recast its e-auction sales since it has the widest possibility to bring in some immediate cash, the company badly needs.

The CIL board has decided to put the reserve price for October auctions higher by 10% of the notified price, changing the last six month’s practice of setting the reserve price at the notified price. This would bring the floor or the reserve price to a level of the average premium price that the e-auctions fetched in the last six months. The average premium fetched was 10% from the e-auctions for the six months this fiscal against an average 48%, it fetched during the corresponding period last fiscal.