UltraTech Cement has won the Bicharpur coal block in Madhya Pradesh, marking the third win for the Aditya Birla Group, which won two blocks during the week. The company paid Rs.3003/t for the block, which has extractable reserves of 29.12 million t. UltraTech beat ACC and Jaypee Cement to the block. Today, the Gare Palma IV/4 block is on offer, and it is thought that ACC Limited is among the bidders.
Jaiprakash Cement informed the BSE that it is participating in the e-auction of coal blocks and that its bid for the Mandla North Coal Block is thought to be the highest, though formal communication of that fact has yet to be received.
The new government in India has announced a new blueprint for coal block allocation following the Supreme Court decision earlier this year to cancel allocations made between 1993 and 2010.
In the second part of this abridged article, T. Abbas, Cinar Ltd, UK, looks at future trends for coal, clean coal initiatives, and how these will affect the cement sector.