PM Modi kick-starts auction of 41 coal blocks

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the auction process for 41 coal blocks for commercial mining, a move that opens India’s coal sector for private players, and termed it a major step in the direction of India achieving self-reliance.

Launching the auction of mines for commercial mining, that is expected to garner Rs 33,000 crore of capital investment in the country over next five to seven years, the prime minister said India will win the coronavirus war and turn this crisis into an opportunity, and the pandemic will make India self-reliant.

The launch of the auction process not only marks the beginning of unlocking of the country’s coal sector from the “lockdown of decades”, but aims at making India the largest exporter of coal, the prime minister said. Presently, despite being the world’s fourth largest producer, he said India is the second largest importer of the dry-fuel.

“Allowing private sector in commercial coal mining is unlocking resources of a nation with the world’s fourth-largest reserves,” he pointed out. Major scams had taken place in coal auction earlier, but the system has been made “transparent” now, PM said lambasting past policies of keeping the sector closed.