In a first ever, Coal India Ltd (CIL) on Wednesday floated an international competitive bidding e-tender, seeking bids for import of 2.416 million tonnes (mt) of coal.

The coal being sourced on behalf of the state generating companies (gencos) and independent power plants (IPPs) is based on the indents received from them. It is for July-September period of the current fiscal year.  

There is a provision in the tender to accommodate a variation of above or below 30 per cent of the bid quantity. The coal being sought is 5000 GAR (gross as received) thermal grade coal.

The Centre had nominated CIL as a centralized agency to augment coal supplies to state gencos and IPPs throughimport, at a time when the demand is high.

CIL’s board had, on June 2, given its nod for the company to proceed ahead with the issuance of two international tenders for sourcing coal from overseas, a short term and a medium term tender.

The current short term tender for import of coal, for second quarter of the current fiscal, is source agnostic. This means the coal can be sourced from any country.

Though coal import is an uncharted terrain for CIL, within a week of receiving indents from the seven State Gencos and 19 IPPs, for a total of 2.416 mt of coal, the company on a war footing has finalized and floated the tender.

The last date for the receipt of bids is June 29. There is an option of pre-bid meeting on June 14 to seek clarification onthe tender. 

After the price discovery, CIL will immediately execute a contract with the successful bidder for coal supply. Then the state owned coal miner can enter into a back to back agreement with state gencos and IPPs to whom coal has to be supplied.

The coal imported would be routed through nine ports located in east and west coasts of the country. The successful agency, selected through the bidding process, shall deliver coal to state gencos and IPPs.

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