KOLKATA: Riding on rising demand, Coal India's average premium from e-auction of coal rose to 76 percent over the average notified price during the third quarter of FY'18.
"In the Q3 period (Oct-Dec'17), the average premium over the average notified price was up 76 percent against 23.6 percent in the corresponding quarter of 2016-17," a senior Coal India official told PTI.
The miner allocated 28.6 million tonnes of the fossil fuel in the Q3 period of the current fiscal, marginally lower than the corresponding quarter's quantity of 28.8 million tonnes.
October 2017 saw a drop of 40 percent in coal offering in e-auction platform as there was a diversion to power plants owing to the sudden rise in demand.
An official tracking Coal India e-auctions said that average realisation for November and December is working out at around Rs 2,056 and Rs 2,064 per tonne, respectively.
Until December, Coal India had offered around 80 million tonnes of coal through spot and forward e-auctions.
However, with some indications of easing of power prices in power exchange, there may be some effect on the premium in e-auction.
Coal India had earlier indicated that it was aiming for about 25 percent more realisation from e-auctions.
It is to be seen whether Coal India will be able to stem the declining trend of profitability in the last few quarters.
The recent wage agreement will see some Rs 5,600 crore extra outgo on account of a 20 percent hike in workers' salaries.