Govt, Coal India to meet every quarter for coal import

New Delhi: The government will hold meetings with Coal India every quarter for examining the import of fossil fuel by the public sector firm.

The world's largest coal miner has to import coal to meet the fuel supply agreement commitment with the power producers.

"The coal ministry will be monitoring imports of coal by Coal India (CIL) by holding quarterly meetings," an official said.[caption id="attachment_1175969" align="alignleft" width="380"] Complicated fuel supply norms. Getty Images[/caption]

CIL is likely to import 15 million tonnes (MT of coal for power utilities as part of meeting the commitment with regard to fuel supply agreement.

"We have received interest for 15 million tonnes from IPPs (independent power producers) and state owned entities," CIL director (marketing) BK Saxena had earlier said.

He had said some 55-60 companies that include mostly private power producers, Damodar Valley Corporation and state generation companies have shown interest to import coal on behalf of them.

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However, NTPC has not sought any import assistance from CIL and instead drawn its own import plan, he had said.

"We propose to supply the imported coal to them from 2014-15 financial year," Saxena had said.

Coal India will float tender to select an agency (like MMTC, STC) which will import the coal on its behalf and the same will be completed within this fiscal, he had said.

According to the new FSA (Fuel Supply Agreement) Coal India will supply 65 percent of the contracted amount from domestic sources and another 15 percent will be done through imports with pass-on pricing model.

Pass-on in other words, CIL will charge buyers imported coal at landed cost plus a service charge and there will be no subsidy in pricing.

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had earlier said that around 85 percent fuel supply pacts have been signed and the remaining would also be done once the technical glitches are addressed.

PTI