The government on Monday said it has extended the deadline to submit bids for the coal blocks under the sixth round of commercial mine auction till January 13.

The biggest tranche of 141 mines covering eleven coal-bearing states is being offered in the sixth round of commercial coal mine auction.

“In response to... requests from prospective bidders, the ministry has extended the bid due date till January 13,” the coal ministry said in a statement.

The earlier due date for the submission of online and offline bids was December 30.

The coal ministry had recently organised investor’s conclaves in Mumbai, Bangalore and Indore, for which it received a tremendous response.

Several pleas for an extension of the bid due date were received during the conclaves and also in writing at the office of the nominated authority, the ministry of coal.

The coal ministry had launched the process for the auction of 133 coal mines under the sixth round of commercial auctions, of which 71 are new coal mines and 62 blocks are rolling over from earlier tranches of commercial auctions.

Additionally, eight coalmines under the second attempt of the fifth round of commercial auctions were launched as those mines had received single bids in the first attempt.

Output outlook

India’s coal production will touch one billion tonnes in the next financial year from900 million tonnes this fiscal ending March, as the country gears up to stop the import of thermal coal by 2024-25, Union coal minister Pralhad Joshi informed Parliament on Monday.

Replying to queries in the Rajya Sabha during the Question Hour, the coal minister said India’s domestic coal requirement will reach 1,500 million tonnes by 2030, for which the nation needs to scale up its production.