India`s coal producing states stand to gain as much as Rs 55,000 crore from Round Two of e-auctions of 12 blocks that have been offered so far after the Supreme Court had declared the original allotments illegal and ordered fresh tendering.
In the first phase of auctions that concluded last month, 19 blocks were on offer and would raise for the state governments of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Maharashtra as much as Rs.109,000 crore over 30 years, as per officials.
Thus, the coal e-auctions will fetch the producing states Rs.164,000 crore from the two round so far with two more blocks on offer on Monday and another on Friday — the last scheduled day for the latest tranche, as per data available with the Ministry of Coal.
This does not include the royalty which could add up to another Rs.25,000 crore, officials said. This apart, the coal ministry has also received 107 applications from state-run firms like NTPC, SAIL and Damodar Valley Corp for the allocation of 43 coal blocks, exclusively kept for them.
“The states like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh to benefit the most out of the e-auction proceeds. Chattisgarh to get Rs.47,552 crore, Madhya Pradesh Rs 35,588 crore and Jharkhand Rs.12,622 crore,” Coal Secretary Anil Swarup had said after the first round.
The prime minister Narendra Modi was also elated with the bidding.
“This is what we have done in 11 months. Our nation will have a revenue of Rs.110,000 crore from the auction of only 19 coal blocks of the total 204 blocks,” he said last week, referring to the first phase of auctions.
“Imagine how much the nation would earn when we auction all 204 coal blocks?” the prime minister asked adding that when all 204 coal mines are put on the auction block, the revenue figures will surpass the figure of Rs.186,000 crore which the official auditor had potentially estimated.
