The Coal Ministry is planning to come up with additional incentives to underground mining “very quickly” in an effort to incentivise private participation in underground commercial coal mines auctions going forward.
The Ministry is planning to offer “more or less” a similar number of blocks in the 12th round of commercial coal mines auction, likely to commence from mid-March, after offering 27 mines for the 11th round.
“Underground mining has been treated differently because it has fair bit of challenges, which is why the share of production has diminished over a period of time. But there is a very very concerted effort to kickstart that ecosystem. In fact, apart from what is already detailed out in the presentation as an added incentive to underground mining, there is an incentivisation framework which has already been in an advanced stage of discussion. And may be in a month’s time we would be adding on some more incentives,” Coal Secretary Vikram Dev Dutt said during a roadshow on commercial coal mine auctions in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Additional sops
Talking to the media on the sidelines of the event, Dutts said the Ministry was planning to come up with the additional incentives to underground mining “very quickly”.
“It is still in the discussion and final stage. The incentivisation could be a mix of both – financial and process,” he pointed out.
To a question, Rupinder Brar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, clarified that the additional incentives would be applicable “prospectively”.
Notably, out of 113 commercial mines successfully auctioned so far, 37 are underground mines.
Brar stated that the Coal Ministry was dedicated to ensuring a seamless investment journey for all stakeholders, backed by a transparent regulatory framework and accelerated project approvals.
Moreover, the Coal Ministry has been working with the Ministry of Environment and Forests to minimise the time required to make auctioned mines operational. This could bring down the operational timelines by around 6-8 months.
“In terms of the growth, commercial coal mining has consistently been clocking a growth of more than 30 per cent. Last (financial) year production was about 147 million tonnes from both captive and commercial space. And for this year (FY25), a week back it was around 157 million tonnes, well poised to cross the target of 170 million tonnes,” Dutt said, adding for the next financial year production target for both captive and commercial space would be around 210 million tonnes.