Tech-driven system would improve efficiency and transparency at Coal India
Kolkata-headquartered Coal India Ltd (CIL) expects to auction 80-100 million tonnes of coal through the recently tested e-auction platform, expecting a higher price compared to the conventional Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) for selling coal, which is heavily discounted to help keep electricity prices low.
The coal major said it is satisfied with the in-house e-auction platform and the mechanism will be rollout across the coal-producing subsidiaries through wholly-owned subsidiary Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI).
The system rollout, with technical assistance from the National Informatics Centre (NIC), comes after seven trial auctions involving nearly 18 million tonnes of coal, CIL official said on 20 Aug 2023.
About 1,500 bidders have already registered on the platform, said CIL, adding that the entire system is automated, without any manual intervention.
Some teething issues were resolved by CMPDI and NIC during trials.
The in-house e-auction platform is a significant step forward for Coal India as it would improve efficiency and transparency while cutting costs.
Meanwhile, CIL produced 53.6 MTs in July 2023, up 13.5% on July 2022. The output increased by 6.3 MTs compared to 47.3 MTs production of July 22.
CIL’s production soared to 229.1 MTs ending July of the current financial year achieving 99% target satisfaction. The pace is on track with the asking growth rate of the year, CIL said in a recent production report.
“All our subsidiaries have registered growth over previous FY with SECL coming back strongly with close to 10 MT production increase. BCCL, NCL, WCL and SECL have sailed past their respective targets till July 2023,” a senior CIL official said in a release on 1 Aug 2023.
Supplies of locally produced coal to all consuming sectors were up at 246.5 MTs during April-July’23 clocking 6.2% growth over a high base of 232 MTs of same period last fiscal.
Supplies on a year-on-year basis have witnessed 14.4 MTs expansion during the first four months of the financial year in reference.
CIL supplied 201.5 MTs to the coal fired plants of the country till July of the ongoing fiscal year with a comparative growth of 1%. Providing a comfortable buffer to domestic coal-based plants coal stocks at their end stood 33 MTs as of July end, said CIL.
This is almost at par with the beginning of the year with not much contraction, said CIL. Coal inventory at CIL’s end is 52 MTs.
All time high removal of over burden gives CIL a leg up for future production, which at 632.2 million cubic metres, has achieved 110% target satisfaction with 31% y-o-y growth. fiinews.com
