Coal India Ltd on Tuesday agreed to a new higher penalty for the Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) to be signed with power producers which have commissioned units after March 30, 2009.
According to the board’s decision on Tuesday, CIL will supply coal at 80 per cent trigger level, which would be a mix of indigenous and imported coal.
Supplies below 65 per cent would attract 1.5 per cent penalty; 65-60 per cent will have 5 per cent penalty; 60-55 per cent would attract 10 per cent penalty; 55-50 per cent will have 20 per cent penalty and below 50 per cent supplies will attract 40 per cent penalty.
CIL Chairman S. Narsingh Rao said that the board as agreed in-principle for pool pricing of coal.
He said that if all players agree to pay higher cost, then CIL would have no objection to price-pooling. It cannot be done on a case to case basis, and it will have to be for the entire sector.
Initially, Coal India would import coal via MMTC and STC. Later, the company would also start importing coal by itself, Mr Rao said.
Siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in