After emerging as the winning bidder for two coal mines — Gare Palma IV/2&3 and Tara — JSPl is hopeful that it will be allowed to retain the two reserves that are now being reviewed by the Government.
“The clinical efficiency with which the auctions have been held in an open, transparent and flawless way is commendable,” said Ravi Uppal, MD & Group CEO of JSPl. He added, “We went ahead with a consistent and prudent bidding strategy during the coal block auctions. We quoted a price which we think is the best we can pay based on business pragmatism.” He said that the company had taken part in the auction process while adhering to all the rules framed by the Government.
Explaining the total cost per tonne of coal in the reverse auction process, Uppal said, “We have always taken prudent decisions duly evaluating the long-term outlook across all spheres of our business operations. In case of Gare Palma IV/2 & IV/3 blocks, the effective bid price is Rs808 per tonne, as we have foregone the mining cost of Rs700 per tonne and paid a premium of Rs108 per tonne to the Government. Additional outgoes like royalty, taxes and cess will further increase the cost by around Rs500 per tonne.”
Similarly for the Tara coal block where the ceiling price was set at Rs970 per tonne, the additional premium of Rs126 per tonne being paid to the Government takes the effective bid amount to Rs1,096 per tonne, Uppal explained.