Coal India: Trial run of Coal India’s in-house e-auction platform successful, 18 million tonnes of coal auctioned.

Coal India’s in-house e-auction platform has been tested satisfactorily and the system can be fully implemented in the company’s coal producing subsidiaries. Officials gave this information on Sunday. He said that a total of seven trial auctions involving about 18 million tonnes of coal have been conducted. The mining major has entrusted its wholly-owned subsidiary Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) with the technical assistance of National Informatics Center (NIC) to start the in-house e-auction system.

There were some teething issues during the initial trials which were resolved by the CMPDI and NIC officials, said an official. The trials in subsequent e-auctions were conducted smoothly. The entire system is automated without any manual intervention. The charges are levied as per the directions of Coal India, he said.

Expected to help cut costs

Officials said the CMPDI has informed the state-owned mining company that the in-house e-auction platform is ready for full rollout across all its coal-producing subsidiaries. Around 1,500 bidders have already registered on the platform. The successful trial of the in-house e-auction platform is a significant step for Coal India, which is expected to help the company cut costs while improving efficiency and transparency.

The Kolkata-headquartered company auctions around 8 to 100 million tonnes of coal through the e-auction platform and this mode fetches higher prices than fuel supply agreements (FSAs), which help keep power prices low. Heavy discounts are given to help. Officials said that at present, external agencies like MSTC and mjunction are in tie-up with Coal India to conduct e-auction of coal. Mjunction, a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL, and MSTC, a public sector undertaking, hold the rights for e-auction of Coal India in the ratio of 60:40.