Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group has emerged as the highest bidder for 23 under production coal blocks which have been put up for auction by the Government. It has bid for as many as 15 reserves through its various subsidiaries like BAlCO, Hindustan Zinc ltd and Sesa Sterlite.
Other big league players like Kumarmangalam Birla-led Hindalco, Jindal Steel and Power ltd (JSPl), and Adani Power ltd among others, also actively participated in the technical bidding. However as reported by The Pioneer on February 4, 2015, despite Government's anticipation of a good response to the exercise, the number of bidders actually fell by the time the last date of submitting the technical bids expired on February 3.
Initially 310 bidders had shown interest in the 23 under production blocks which have been placed under Schedule - II of the entire list of 204 blocks which were last September cancelled by the Supreme Court. However by February 3, only 176 bidders were left in the fray when technical bids were opened.
Hindalco put in 15 bids for 8 blocks while Naveen Jindal-led JSPl, which was the worst hit by the cancellations of coal block allocations by the Supreme Court, put in 13 bids for 6 blocks. Adani bid for five reserves. The Gare Palma IV/7 block in Chhattisgarh with extractable reserves of 56.62 million tonnes (MT) was the most sought-after block attracting as many as 16 bids from firms like Balco, Hindalco, JSPl, Monnet Ispat, Sesa Sterlite and Sarda Energy & Mineral. Parbatpur Central in Jharkhand attracted just one bid from JSW Steel. While no foreign player bid for the 23 mines that were in production before the Supreme Court cancelled their allocation, other domestic players in the fray include GMR, GVK, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group and lanco.
Industry estimates suggest these blocks may fetch tens of thousands of crores of rupees in revenue while the exact estimate is not known. These 23 coal mines have geological reserves of over 1500 million tonnes and many firms have given multiple bids for one coal block. Gare Palma IV/7 block in Chhattisgarh with geological reserves of 67.149 MT was previously allocated to Sarda Energy & Mineral ltd. For this block, Naveen Jindal-led JSPl has submitted as many as four bids, followed by two each from Balco and Hindalco. Besides Balco, another Vedanta Group firm Sesa Sterlite has also submitted technical bid for the block.