The government on Saturday approved a plan to sell coal through a common e-auction window, which would replace sector-specific auctions and ensure a single rate for all consumers.

The cabinet has allowed coal companies to offer “all non-linkage coal through one e-auction window of Coal India/Singareni Collieries Company Limited”, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs said in a statement.

The move will help remove market distortions and a single rate for all consumers will evolve in the e-auction market. It will increase operational efficiencies and lead to an increase in domestic coal demand.

The discretion currently vested in the companies to allocate coal to different end-use sectors will be eliminated. The coal companies will be able to establish gasification plants with coal from their own mines.