The Ministry of Coal opened bids for the 15th round of Commercial Coal Blocks’ Auction, along with the 2nd Attempt of the 13th and 14th Tranches. According to the Ministry, this round received bids for 8 coal blocks out of 23 blocks offered, and 21 bids were received from 16 companies.
The Ministry said the bidding process followed the standard procedure. Online bids were decrypted and opened electronically first, and then sealed offline bid documents were opened in the presence of participating bidders. The proceedings were shown live on screen, which the Ministry presented as a transparency measure.
The commercial coal mining regime is intended to broaden participation in coal mining beyond captive use. The Ministry highlighted that 4 companies were first-time bidders in this round, which it described as evidence of continued industry interest in the framework.
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