Commercial coal auctions: Second round starts on a dismal note

The second round of commercial coal auctions kicked off on a dismal note on Monday, with companies offering to pay modest amounts to the respective state governments as revenue share for the three blocks on offer. Two out of the three winning bids were lower than even the lowest revenue sharing percentage discovered in the maiden round of commercial coal bidding in November last year.

The highest bid was offered for the Jogeshwar and Khas Jogeshwar block in Jharkhand by South West Pinnacle Exploration, which agreed to a revenue share of 24.3%. The company traditionally offers drilling, exploration and seismic services to coal and metal mining industries.