Coal India starts online signing of FSAs with clients, reduces documentation

New Delhi: Coal India Ltd (CIL) has made the process of signing Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) with its various clients, including those in the power sector, online to ensure ease of business, the state-run company said in a statement on Tuesday. With this move, CIL has discontinued with the earlier practice of physical submission of official papers, while bank guarantees and other required documents can be submitted through digital mode.

PSU Watch is now on Whatsapp Channels. Click here to join

"Coal India Ltd, in a first ever, introduced online signing of fuel supply agreements (FSA) for power as well as non-regulated sector customers participating under linkage based auctions," the company said in a statement.

Coal India reduces documentation process for signing FSAs

To ensure ease of business, CIL said, it has also cut down the number of documents that were required to be submitted.

"The online signing of FSAs for linkage auctions...evades the cumbersome process of physical submission of voluminous documents. It ushers in greater customer ease as they can conduct the entire process from their place of work without having to visit the coal companies," a senior executive of the company said.

Previously, in case of any discrepancy in documents, customers had to visit the company to get them rectified. Now, this can be done online. CIL signs hundreds of FSAs annually necessitating maintenance of bulky documents. The electronic arrangement makes the upkeep much easier.

Since the documents are stored digitally, tracking the status of progress also gets simplified at supplier and customer ends.

Among non-regulated sectors so far, nearly 700 FSAs have been formalised online for a total of about 19 million tonnes of coal supply.

In case of power sector 262 FSAs have been signed digitally till now for a total quantity of around 24 MT. Coal India accounts for over 80 percent of domestic coal output.

(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)