Coal allocation for spot e-auction declines by 8.19 pc in Apr-Jan

State-owned Coal India Ltd allocated 24.87 million tonnes of dry fuel for the spot electronic auction (e-auction) during April-January, down by 8.19 percent over the same period of last year. Coal India (CIL) had allocated 27.09 million tonne (MT) of coal in the year-ago period, according to the government data.

For January 2020, the coal allocation for the e-auction scheme declined to 3.62 MT from 4.83 MT in the corresponding month of 2019. Coal distribution through e-auction was introduced with a view to providing access to coal for such buyers who are not able to source the fuel through available institutional mechanisms.

The purpose of e-auction is to provide equal opportunity to all intending buyers for purchasing coal through single window service. Coal India accounts for over 80 percent of domestic coal output.

CIL's coal allocation under spot e-auction scheme had declined 37.7 percent to 34.34 MT in 2018-19. The government had earlier asked the mining major to fast-track its ambitious one billion tonne production target and achieve the goal by 2023-24.

The miner had earlier said it would meet the target by 2025-26. CIL is targetting an output of 660 million tonne in the ongoing fiscal.

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