The first round of auctions for 31 coal blocks has surpassed the Centre’s  expectations with proceeds set to cross Rs.2 lakh crore, including the royalty amounts.

The sale of of blocks belonging to two categories- those already producing (18) and those ready to produce (13)- which started on February 14 ended on March 9. Bidding through Hindalco and Ultra-Tech, the Aditya Birla group cornered the most number of blocks, five. Naveen Jindal’s Jindal Power Ltd,Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group and GMR won two blocks each. The surprise in the auction is that Gautam Adan’s Adani Power managed only one ready-to- produce block despite submitting bids for all power sector blocks.

Coal Secretary, Anil Swarup said that there will be around Rs.97000 crore of additional benefits from the lower electricity tariff through the reverse auction of the coal blocks for the power sector.

The CAG had reported a loss of Rs.1.86 lakh crore in the allocation of coal blocks made with out auction which warranted the intervention of Supreme Court. The apex court had cancelled the allocation made illegally by the then Manmohan Singh goverrnment and ordered for fresh allocation through auction.