Coal India bets big on e-auction as demand declines

The company is targeting to put on block at least 235 mt of coal in three years to increase revenue

Coal India is falling back on increasing allotments under the auction route as its sales and price realisations to Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) consumers is feeling the heat, owing to the low demand of the fossil fuel in the domestic market.

While e-auction volumes for the company increased to touch 39.52 million tonnes (mt) in the April-October period of the current financial year, the average price per tonne declined by 27 per cent, at Rs 1,463 a tonne. Nevertheless, the average prices in these auctions were at least 20 per cent higher than the notified price, which earned more revenue