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Environmental group Greenpeace today claimed its research has found the world's largest coal producer, Coal India Limited, is misleading potential shareholders by concealing the true level of its extractable reserves, as it prepares to sell additional shares to international investors.
The company has failed to disclose to stock exchanges an internal assessment that shows its extractable coal reserves are 16 per cent less than stated at the time of its 2010 listing - a violation of Indian stock exchange rules, a Greenpeace release said.
"Coal India continues to claim via its website that it has 21.7 billion tonnes of extractable coal reserves, yet a review of its own internal documents undertaken by Greenpeace and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has shown that the company has only 18.2 billion tonnes of extractable coal, as per the United Nations reserve classification system," it said.
At targeted production rates, these reserves could be exhausted in 17 years, it added.
Greenpeace India has filed an official complaint with the Indian stock exchange regulator against Coal India for concealing material evidence on the scale of their coal reserves, in contravention of the terms of the Listing Agreement under the Indian Securities Contracts Regulations Act, 1956, it said.
Ashish Fernandes of Greenpeace said, "Coal India is trying to deceive its present and future shareholders by hiding the fact that its extractable reserves are almost a fifth less than it claims. Coal India has a legal duty to tell the truth and they are failing to do that.
