The upcoming initial public offering (IPO) pipeline for 2025 is getting bigger by the hour. One of the world’s largest coking coal producers, Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India, has also filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).
According to BCCL’s DRHP, the IPO will be entirely an offer for sale and is the first issue for BCCL.
Here we’ve broken down the thick DRHP document for you, highlighting key details you should be looking at before the bidding.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO details
The IPO is a 100% book-built Issue. It is an offer for sale of 46.57 crore equity shares or 10% of the total paid-up equity capital by Coal India. As this is an offer for sale, the proceeds from the offer will go to its parent company, Coal India.
Key IPO details like the floor price, offer price, bid lot size, and anchor investor offer price are going to be decided in consultation with the Book Running Lead Managers (BRLMs) based on market demand through the book-building process.
IDBI Capital Markets & Securities and ICICI Securities are working as the BRLM of the issue, while KFin Technologies is the registrar.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: The ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ connection
Bharat Coking Coal was incorporated in 1972. It has a registered corporate office in Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Yes, it’s that iconic town in Eastern India, made popular by the Bollywood movie Gangs of Wasseypur. The movie was centred around the coal mafia in Dhanbad, one of the key coal mining hotspots in the country.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Company overview
BCCL is primarily engaged in the mining and supply of coking coal, non-coking coal, and washed coals. These coals are mainly used in the steel and power industries. The purpose of incorporating BCCL was to mine and supply coking coal concentrated in the Jharia, Jharkhand, and Raniganj, West Bengal coalfields.
The coking coal miner was conferred with the status of ‘Miniratna’ in 2014. As of FY25, coking coal accounted for 96% of BCCL’s total production. It won’t be wrong to say that the company is, in many ways, the backbone of the steel industry’s processing methodology.
BCCL promoters
The promoter of BCCL is Coal India. CIL is also the ‘Promoter Selling Shareholder’ in this IPO. Coal India holds 4.66 billion equity shares, which is 100% of BCCL’s issued, subscribed, and paid-up equity share capital. The President of India, acting through the Ministry of Coal, Government of India, and other members of the promoter group, do not hold any equity shares in BCCL as of the DRHP date.
As BCCL is a wholly owned subsidiary of CIL, the Government will continue to control BCCL and influence decisions such as director appointments, corporate action proposals, revenue budgets, capital expenditure, and dividend policy, even after the issue.
BCCL’s coal production
In FY24, BCCL achieved a record-high coal production rate, surpassing previous records. It produced 39.11 million tonnes of coking coal and 1.99 million tonnes of non-coking coal.
BCCL’s total raw coal production stood at 40.50 million tonnes in FY25, which grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% from 36.2 MMT produced in FY23. In FY25, the production increased by 32.74% from 30.51 million tonnes produced in FY22.
The company produces two types of coal: Coking coal and non-coking coal. Coking coal, which is also called metallurgical coal, is a type of coal that is heated in the absence of air to produce coke. Coke is one of the crucial components in steelmaking. It is used as a fuel and reducing agent in blast furnaces to convert iron ore into molten iron.
Non-coking coal, or thermal coal, is a type of coal that lacks the coking properties necessary for steelmaking. It is primarily used for power generation and various industrial heating purposes. Unlike coking coal, it does not soften and form a cake-like structure during carbonisation in a coke oven.
BCCL’s coking coal production
BCCL is the largest coking coal producer in India. It produced 58.50% of domestic coking coal in FY25, apart from accounting for 96% of BCCL’s total production in FY25. It had produced 38.89 million tonnes of coking coal. This is slightly lower than the last fiscal year. In FY24, the coking coal production stood at 39.11 million tonnes. The company produced 33.72 million tonnes in FY23.
Overall, BCCL’s coking coal production grew by 50% in 5 years to 38.9 MMT in FY25 from 25.9 MMT in FY20.
BCCL’s non-coking coal production
The company’s non-coking coal production stood at 1.61 million tonnes in FY25, 1.99 million tonnes in FY24, and 2.46 million tonnes in FY23.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Mines and production methodology
BCCL operates 32 mines, including 3 underground mines, 25 opencast mines, and 4 mixed mines. Most of the production of coal was through opencast mining. In FY25, BCCL produced 39.36 million tonnes of coal through opencast mines.
In FY24, the opencast production stood at 40.33 million tonnes, constituting 98.13% of the total production. In FY23, opencast production was 35.49 million tonnes, constituting 98.09% of the production. However, around 78% of the opencast production in FY25 was through third-party contractors.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Production by underground mining:
BCCL, in FY25, produced 1.14 million tonnes of coal through underground mines, which was 2.81% of the production. In FY24, the company’s underground production was 0.77 million tonnes, contributing 1.87%.
In FY23, BCCL’s underground production was 0.69 million tonnes. Also, BCCL introduced Highwall Mining technology at ABOCP Mine in 2024 to improve recovery rates in opencast mines. In FY25, the company produced 0.53 million tonnes of coal using highwall technology.
Not just that, BCCL was the first company in India to introduce Powered Support Longwall Technology at Moonidih underground coal mines in 1978. In FY25, production from the longwall face at Moonidih mine was 0.49 million tonnes.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Operational efficiency
The output per man-shift (OMS) has improved significantly from 3.8 tonnes in FY23 to 6.5 tonnes in FY25, indicating better productivity. BCCL recorded its highest overburden removal of 182.4 cubic millimetres (Mm3) in FY25. Overburden removal is critical for accessing coal seams in opencast mining.
Coming down to its machinery capacity, Bharat Coking Coal utilises a robust fleet of 520 heavy earth-moving machinery (HEMM) as of March 31, 2025, including draglines, shovels, dumpers, dozers, and drills, as well as equipment for underground mining like side discharge loaders, longwall packages, and miner bolters.
Important point to be noted, 78.47% of total coal extraction operations by Bharat Coking Coal were held on a contractual basis or third-party contracts, making the company’s operations more efficient.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Coal reserves
As of March 2025, BCCL holds approximately 1,495.4 million tonnes of proved and probable reserves, including 1,140.7 million tonnes of coking coal, which is the largest in India. As of April 2024, BCCL held 7,910 million tonnes of coking coal resources out of India’s total 36.8 million tonnes, making it the only source of prime coking coal in India.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Coal washeries
As of March 2025, BCCL operated five coal washeries aimed at reducing ash content in coking coal for steel industry utilisation. It is also developing three new washeries with a combined capacity of 7 million tonnes per year (MTPA). It has the largest owned operational coking coal washing capacity of 13.65 MTPA (additional 1.7 MTPA operated by BCCL-TSL Washing Venture) in India.
Before moving ahead, a washery, which is also known as a coal preparation plant or CPP, is a facility where raw coal is processed to remove impurities like ash, dirt, and rock, making it cleaner and more efficient for burning. This process, also called coal washing or beneficiation, is important for improving coal quality and reducing pollution.
BCCL IPO: A look at global and local competition
BCCL is the largest producer of coking coal in India, accounting for 58.50% of domestic coking coal production in FY25 and a 4% share in overall domestic coal production.
Domestically, the company has two competitors: Central Coalfields (CCL) and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. (MCL). In India, CCL is BCCL’s primary competitor in the coking coal segment, as both are major commercial players selling coking coal. In FY25, CCL contributed approximately 31% to India’s coking coal production.
MCL is not a direct competitor to BCCL as it is another CIL subsidiary. Also, its primary business is the production of non-coking coal. MCL is the largest non-coking coal producer. MCL produced 100% non-coking coal, amounting to 225.2 MMT in FY25.
As the globe is moving towards a greener and carbon-free environment, the company doesn’t have much competition internationally. Alpha Metallurgical Resources and Warrior Met Coal are the two main competitors to which BCCL outshines by a huge margin in terms of production. However, this doesn’t matter much due to government regulations as well as the hectic task of exporting it.
Bharat Coking Coal: Raw Coal Production
BCCL: 40.50 MMT in Fiscal 2025.
Alpha Metallurgical Resources: 15.70 MMT in Fiscal 2024.
Warrior Met Coal: 7.48 MMT in Fiscal 2024.
Bharat Coking Coal: Coking Coal Production
BCCL: 38.89 MMT in FY25.
Alpha Metallurgical Resources: 14.60 MMT in FY24 (100% of its revenue from coking coal mining).
Warrior Met Coal: 7.48 MMT in FY24 (100% of its revenue from coking coal mining)
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: FY25 earnings performance
The company’s net profit in FY25 declined to Rs 1,240.2 crore, compared with a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1,564.5 crore posted in FY24. BCCL’s net profit grew at a CAGR of 36.59% from FY23 to FY25. The PAT margin (as a percentage of total income) stood at 8.5% in FY25, 10.83% in FY24, and 4.86% in FY23.
BCCL’s total revenue from operations decreased by 0.33% from Rs 14,045.34 crore in FY24 to Rs 13,998.45 crore in FY25. This was mainly due to a decrease in net sales from Rs 13,161.10 crore to Rs 13,083.26 crore.
BCCL’s revenue from operations grew at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 2.60% from Fiscal 2023 to Fiscal 2025.
Raw coking coal consistently contributed the largest share of revenue from operations, accounting for 76% over the last three fiscal years.
The coking coal producer’s major customers include Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). In FY5, BCCL’s 88% of revenue was derived from its top 10 customers.
In FY25, raw coal sales contributed 78% of total sales, while washed coal contributed almost 15%.
| Fiscal Year | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| Net profit | 664.78 | 1,564.46 | 1,240.19 |
| Revenue | 13,296.73 | 14,045.34 | 13,998.45 |
BCCL’s IPO investor category and reservation
The issue includes reservations for Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs), with not more than 50% of the offer. Out of the QIB portion, up to 60% may be allocated to anchor investors on a discretionary basis, with one-third of the Anchor Investor Portion reserved for domestic Mutual Funds.
Employee reservation
The issue includes a portion of eligible employees, but the portion and discount are yet to be decided.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Key Risks
As per the DRHP, some of the key risks for the company include
1. Quality of coal produced: The quality of BCCL’s coking coal is considered lower due to higher ash content, leading to most of it being diverted to power plants rather than the steel industry directly.
2. Location: The reserves of BCCL are deep-seated and located in densely populated areas of Jharkhand, posing challenges to mining activities.
3. Risk of damage due to fire: Mine fires and spontaneous heating in old underground workings in Jharia are ongoing issues that consume coal reserves and affect productivity.
4. Lack of technology: The lack of suitable technology to extract coal reserves from these fire-affected areas is a major concern.
5. Tightening regulatory environment: Regulatory changes, such as stricter environmental regulations, could limit extraction or increase operational costs.
6. Tax notices: The total amount in dispute for tax proceedings is Rs 1,826.3.25 crore
Not just that, BCCL is involved in several labour-related proceedings concerning alleged violations of various labour laws. The Forest Department, Jharkhand, filed a case against BCCL officials for the alleged construction of an iron shed on forest land. There’s a long list of criminal proceedings pending against BCCL.
Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Pushing forward ‘Make In India’ vision
All in all, the company has a huge market to cater to as India depends majorly on imports for its coal needs. The country imported around 90% of its coking coal requirement, which was 58 MMT in FY24, with almost 50% from Australia. Also,
BCCL’s coal washing operations align with the Government of India’s “Atma-Nirbhar Bharat” vision to substitute imported coal with domestic coal. Initiatives like “Mission Coking Coal” aim to increase the domestic washed coking coal supply to 40 MMT by FY30, considering 25% blending with imported coal for steel making.