Private sector seeks “level playing field” in coal block auction for commercial minning

Private sector companies scouting opportunities for commercial coal mining in the country are seeking a “level playing field” to encourage them to participate in the bidding process, sources said on Tuesday. Given the international scenario, global mining companies are looking to gradually reduce their exposure and investments in the coal sector and this will have an impact on FDI in commercial mining, private companies’ officials said.

“If the government does not provide the level playing field to private sector firms for commercial mining, the interest among mining firms will not take-off as it was envisaged earlier,” an official of the country’s leading private sector conglomerate told PTI. The opening up of commercial coal mining for private sector is the most ambitious reform since the nationalisation of this sector, ending the monopoly of state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL).