Coal policy tweaked to help avoid legal blocks
Coal imports have risen at close to 30% over the last three years to 100 million tonnes in 2012 (total domestic production is around 440 million tonnes a year), putting additional strain on the current account, which is projected to see a record deficit of 5-6% of gross domestic product in the current financial year.
Sources told FE that unlike in the oil and gas sector where the PPP model involves revenue sharing with the government, the PPP model being evolved for the coal industry would be in the form of pure commercial contracts. This would help the government from running into a legal hurdle — the Coal Mines Nationalisation Act, 1973, explicitly bars private players in commercial coal mining. Any PPP venture that involves giving equity stakes to the private firms or even under a revenue- or profit-sharing model could be challenged in courts. While it is politically difficult for the government to privatise coal mining by amending the 40-year old Act, it is making all
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