- Write by:
-
Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 7:35:53 PM
-
583 Visit
-
Print
Mining News Pro - India has taken an historic step towards ending the state monopoly on the mining and selling of coal by auctioning 41 mines in the country, a move that allows private companies to enter the sector.
The announcement, which puts an end to more than four decades of state control over the coal industry, aims to solve a fuel shortage that threatens to choke the nation’s industrial activity.
The measure also seeks to boost India’s economy to help the country recover from the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ministry of Coal estimates the mines would generate 330 billion rupees ($4.3 billion) of capital investment over the next five to seven years, boosting the nation’s output by as much as 225 million tonnes a year.
The authority also expects the operations to provide thousands of jobs — about 70,000 direct positions — and earn states extra annual revenue of 200 billion rupees ($2.6bn).
Technical bids, open even to companies with no mining experience, are due mid-August. After that, the government will begin auctioning the earmarked assets. Such process will require bidders to propose a portion of revenue they’re willing to share with the government.
Ending reliance on imports
India is the world’s third-largest producer of coal, behind China and the United States. Yet it has heavily relied on imports because of mismanagement and an onerous bureaucracy in coal exploration, production and power generation. As a result, nearly a quarter of India’s 1.38 billion people have no electricity, according to the World Bank.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the announcement, which has been in the making for years, as a major step in the direction of achieving self-reliance.
India, which nationalized its coal industry in 1973, says the mines that are being auctioned could potentially contribute about 15% of the country’s projected total coal production in 2025-26.
Short Link:
https://www.miningnews.ir/En/News/549950
China’s state planner on Friday finalized a rule to set up a domestic coal production reserve system by 2027, aimed at ...
The world’s coal-fired power capacity grew 2% last year, its highest annual increase since 2016, driven by new builds in ...
Peabody Energy Corp. shares sunk to the lowest in seven months after the biggest US coal miner warned that first-quarter ...
Polish government is abandoning plans to separate coal-fired power plants into a special company and is considering ...
BMO Bank quietly dropped its policy restricting lending to the coal industry in late 2023, helping it avoid being ...
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh discovered that bacteria found in areas polluted by acid mine drainage had ...
BMO Bank quietly dropped its policy restricting lending to the coal industry in late 2023, helping it avoid being ...
Iron ore reversed direction after dropping to its lowest level in 10 months as optimism that the country’s economic ...
Glencore Plc may consider switching its primary listing from London to New York, analysts at Deutsche Bank AG predicted, ...
No comments have been posted yet ...