The last day of India’s first commercial coal auction for private companies ended on a high note with a record bid by Sarda Energy & Minerals Ltd. The company bagged the Gare Palma-IV/7 coal mine in Chhattisgarh by quoting the closing bid of 66.75 per cent revenue share. This is the highest bid received in the auction which started a week ago with 19 coal mines and 42 bidders.
This is the second coal mine that Sarda Energy won in the current round of auction. The mine had several noted bidders in the fray including Adani, Jindal Power, Hindalco, JSW Steel among others.
The Centre for the first time is awarding coal mines for commercial mining and sale to private firms. It amended the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, in May to open the auction for non-mining, MSMEs and foreign companies.
