Auction for commercial coal mining begins with investor-friendly rules

Hoping to attract a slew of investors for India’s first auction of coal mines for commercial mining and sale process, the Ministry of Coal has liberalised the terms of qualification. However, the final decision on successful bidders will need government approval.
 

There is effectively no strict eligibility criterion for participating in the auction. The companies/joint ventures should be registered in India. Bidders who have won coal mine under captive auction and have been convicted of an offence relating to coal allocation are disallowed to participate.
 

In a presentation, a coal ministry official said the mines on offer were a mix