With a rise in coal prices and shortage of supply in the wake of disruptions from Indonesia, the private sector seems like a viable option for the country to emerge from an impending crisis, experts and industry leaders say. “The participation from the private sector is always welcome, as a larger number of participants would not only enhance supply but would also infuse competition,” Vinaya Varma, MD, mjunction Services Ltd, said.
However, at present, private sector participation can only be in the form of increased production from the captive blocks. “It will take some time for the commercial miners to kick-start production from the allotted blocks. As a matter of fact, captive coal production has already shown a healthy growth of over 32 percent year-on-year to around 62 million tons till December 2021,” Vinaya Varma told Financial Express Online.
