Bids open for 15th round of commercial coal block auctions; 8 blocks draw 21 bids

New Delhi: The Nominated Authority under the Ministry of Coal on Friday opened bids for the 15th round of commercial coal blocks' auction, conducted together with the second attempt of the 13th and 14th tranches. According to a statement, "Bids were received for eight coal blocks against 23 blocks on offer, reflecting robust industry participation in India's commercial coal mining framework."

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Bids opened electronically, then offline documents unsealed

The release said the process followed established procedure: online bids were "first decrypted and opened electronically, after which the sealed envelopes carrying the offline bid documents were opened." It added that the process was carried out in the presence of participating bidders, with proceedings displayed live on screen. In total, 21 bids were received against eight of the 23 coal blocks offered under these rounds.

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16 companies participated, including 4 first-time bidders

The Ministry said 16 companies took part in this round, of which 4 were first-time bidders under the commercial coal mining regime. According to the ministry, the bids received will now be placed before a multi-disciplinary Technical Evaluation Committee for assessment. Bidders found technically qualified will be shortlisted for the electronic auction to be conducted on the MSTC portal.

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