Commercial coal mine auction during Covid-19 a dampener: Investors

In the first set of queries submitted to the Union Ministry of Coal, several investors have raised concerns over the timing of commercial coal auction, citing Covid-19 as the dampener. They also asked the government to consider lowering the bid security and upfront payment amount. 

Close to 80 queries have been submitted to the coal ministry on the MSTC e-auction platform. The Centre last month had commenced India’s first auction of coal mines for commercial mining and sale in the open market by private companies. This was followed by a Union Cabinet decision to ease the qualification criteria and auction methodology