The Adani Group has submitted the most number of bids for coal mines under the first round of commercial mining auctions conducted by the Ministry of Coal. An official statement said while Adani Enterprises Ltd has bid for seven mines, one more bid has been submitted by Adani Power Resources Ltd. Hindalco Industries and JMS Mining jointly come second by bidding for five mines each.

Gare Palma IV/7 in Chhattisgarh, and Gotitoria (East) & Gotitoria (West) in Madhya Pradesh are the most sought-after coal mines in the commercial mining auction with eight bids each being received by the Ministry.

The auction process of 38 coal mines for sale of coal was launched by the Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal on June 18, . The last date of submission of technical bid was September 29.

The Coal Ministry statement said that 76 bids have been received for 23 coal mines. Two or more bids have been received for 19 coal mines. In all, 42 companies submitted their bids in the auction process.

The bids will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary Technical Evaluation Committee and technically qualified bidders will be shortlisted for participation in the electronic auction to be conducted on MSTC portal from October 19.The entire bidding process is expected to be concluded by October-end, the statement added.

Initially, the Centre wanted to auction 41 coal mines, but the list of mines was tweaked after some States opposed the move, citing environmental concerns. The list of mines was updated on September 3 and the auction process is on track.