The government on Monday announced that the third phase of coal block auctions received 32 technical bids for 10 mines meant for the unregulated sector in the third tranche of such e-auctions. The unregulated sector includes cement, steel, iron and power plants meant for captive use.
Of the total available mines, 4 have received less than 3 technical bids, which makes them ineligible for further rounds in the bidding process. As per rules in the tender document, a mine must have more than 2 technically qualified bidders for the next stage of auction.
Even mines that have received more than 2 bids in the technical stage could be taken out of the process if the number of technically qualified bids drops below 3. The technically qualified companies will be announced on August 7. This will be followed by the financial bid on August 11.
At least 6 mines in the current phase are those that had to be taken out of earlier rounds due to insufficient bidders.
While two of them have managed at least 3 bidders for the auction process to enter the next stage, the remaining three mines have again met the same fate as they failed to attract the required number of bidders. These mines will now be taken out of the process.