The second day of the coal block auction saw big names such as Hindustan Zinc, Jaypee Cement, Adani Power and GMR Mining beaten by lesser-known firms such as Trimula Industries and Mandakini Exploration and Mining Ltd.
Of the two ready-to-produce blocks on offer, Trimula Industries won Meral in Jharkhand for ₹727 a tonne, beating Hindustan Zinc, Jaypee Cement and others.
The non-power sector block has reserves of 17.045 million tonnes.
The previous owner of the block was Abhijeet Infrastructure Ltd.
The other block that was sold during the day was Mandakini in Odisha.
Mandakini Exploration and Mining Ltd won the block reserved for the power sector for ₹650 a tonne in forward bidding, after auctioning for the block hit the zero mark in the reverse bidding phase early on.
Under reverse bidding, potential buyers have to bid below a capped price of coal till they hit zero, after which forward bidding starts. In forward bidding, the highest bidder wins.
The Mandakini block has geological reserves of 322.79 million. Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd is a major shareholder in Mandakini Exploration and Mining. Jindal India Thermal Power is part of the BC Jindal Group.
Mandakini Exploration and Mining beat Adani Power, GMR Mining, Naveen Jindal’s Jindal Power and others. The previous owner of the block was a joint venture between Tata Power, Monnet Ispat & Energy and Jindal Photolab.
Aggressive bidding Bidding for the block was aggressive with counter offers pouring in through the day, which kept inflating the bid price. The heavy traffic even had an impact on the live viewing website, which faced technical problems.
The auctions will resume on Saturday, as Friday is a holiday for Holi.