Opening the coal sector to private and foreign participation, a landmark reform initiated by the Narendra Modi government, marked the end of coal nationalisation and dubious captive mining era.
In future, blocks will be awarded without any end-use restrictions.
However, this may not trigger a rush for investments in the coal sector.
This is partly because, India was too late in opening the sector and, thereby, missed the era of coal rush that ended last decade.
During that period, ground conditions for mining became more challenging in India, due to environmental and land acquisition-related concerns, impacting the potential return on investment.
