Coal news and updates

CIL refuses to comment on price hike

August 11: Coal India Ltd (CIL), which is set to receive a severe dent in its profitability due to a sharp cut in the sale of coal through the e-auction route, has not decided whether it wants to compensate for the loss by increasing coal prices.

A senior official refused to comment when asked whether the company was considering plans to increase coal prices to compensate for the prospective loss of revenue in view of the sharp reduction in sale of coal through the spot e-auction route.

“No comments,” the official said.

The official also refused to comment when asked if any price hike proposal is on the agenda of company’s board meeting scheduled on August 12.

The Ministry of Coal (MoC) had recently directed CIL to restrict the sale of coal through the e-auction route to 25 million tons so that more of the fuel could be supplied to power sector consumers.

According to data available with ICMW, CIL had offered around 69 million tons of coal for sale through e-auction in 2013-14 of which around 58 million tons was sold. The company had offered about 57 million tons and allotted nearly 47 million tons in 2012-13.