The Centre needs to rationalise the prices of certain grades of coal as per gross calorific value (GCV) but there is no need to align them to international rates, Union Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said here today.
"Indian coal prices were never linked to international prices. They were by and large set to Indian requirement and kept very reasonable over the years. And therefore the fall in prices internationally has not really affected the country's coal prices.
"However, a lot of stakeholders, particularly consumer organisations and my own studies show that certain grades of coal are not being priced properly. So we need to rationalise the prices to make them linear based on the gross calorific value," he told reporters here.
Goyal was speaking on the sidelines of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry's flagship event "The Environment and Energy Conclave" here.
"The price rationalisation (of coal) is not any effort to give any benefit anybody," he said.
Asked whether the rationalisation of coal prices would be aligned to that of the international market, Goyal categorically said "No it will not be aligned with international prices. Those prices keep on fluctuating and they may even go up in the future. It will be aligned to the GCV of the coal so the station heat rate of the power plant or the consumers in the other sectors get coal at a rational price."
On whether Coal India was aiming to arrest the falling profitability factor, Goyal said "I do not think the effort in this is to address the profitability issue.
"Profitability has to be resolved by efficiency, by growth in output, productivity, technological innovation and we are working towards that. The price rationalisation is not any effort to correct any or give any benefit in price," he added.
