The Union Coal Ministry has received offline bids for only 23 coal mines, out of the 38 blocks offered for commercial coal auctions. As many as 46 companies have placed their bids physically for commercial coal mining, the government said.
Sources in coal ministry said that the online bids will be opened on Wednesday.
The government on June 18 had launched the maiden auction for coal blocks, where private players can participate without any end-use restrictions. This would also be the first set of coal assets to be auctioned off through the new market-determined revenue share model that replaced the fixed fee/tonne regime that turned off private investors. —FE
