Monday, 26 October 2015

BEND OVER OF INDIAN COAL INDUSTRY



              The Indian coal industry has been witnessing a sluggish operation of it resources over the past 3 years. The imports has gone up in a noticeable level of up to 90 mT last year and is estimated to grow at around 220 mT this year. The central government has noted the issue and has framed its first set of action to avert the booming issue in the sector.

              The first step being the conduction of a special e auction over the reserves which are not actually operating at their promised utilization factor. Now this encouraged the private firms especially the Power producing firms to try out their hand with the coal mines since their PPAs are not very comfortable. The price of the auction will go up but the net captive price of the coal will come down.
               
                In addition to this the Coal India Limited will also face a warning since the government may increase the number of mines being leased in the future. This inturn now increases the internal competition. Coal India Limited has already geared up to face this new challenge by giving their employees a pleasing bonus for the Diwali festival. The work force plays a key role in the coal industry, as we know that they are hard to find for this industry to the medical impacts. The people in Eastern part of India will be benefited because of the huge man power available at a lower cost.





               
                The idea of auctioning the coal mines is not going to resolve the issue in a short term. 
The mines auctioned are in need of resurrection. Hence the government will look forward to a limited amount of import for the next two years which would thereby aide in India’s Economic growth. With china devaluation its yuan it is set to become a net exporter of coal and it prices are also expected to drop down. The current rice of the coal 53.5$ per ton is standing as the lowest over the past decade and further drop down of the price will come in handy for Indian import.
                
                When the Private firms step in we can expect them to take a dig in the operation and transportation cost. In addition to this they are likely to attract more foreign investments. The government may not grant complete commercialization over the mines but they may give segmented leasing like in the case of Energy sector where the generation of electricity is done by the government while distribution is done by private firms on contract basis. Leasing out in terms of departments will also ensure that commercial utilization of the resource is not done and also to ensure increasing production every year as proposed.  Hence the investments may not come directly but they will flow in particular departments of the Coal mine operation.





                 The need for coal is set to increase tremendously over the next 10 years since the government has initiated a lot of power producing projects. The Indian Coal industry has fourth largest coal reserves in the world and the quality of the coal is good containing low calorific value. With the import markets too playing a helping hand with the fall in prices, the government is in a position to take a decision that will benefit the country in a long run.



Authors:
Praveen Kumar.C  15AC34
Laxmi Priya.S  15AC23
Lakshmanan.R   15AC22

No comments:

Post a Comment