Poor market sentiment and expectations of commercial mining have led to a tepid response for the blocks on offer during the current round of coal auctions. These mines are being auctioned under the 8, 9 and 10 round of bids simultaneously being conducted by the Ministry of Coal.
“In all 45 bids were received for the blocks on offer. An adequate number of bids have been received for just 6 out of the 27 blocks on offer in the auctions. Another six blocks have received interest for allocation to State or Central government entities. In total, 12 of the 42 blocks envisaged to be auctioned or allocated in this round are now in the fray,” a top Coal Ministry official told BusinessLine.
