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The Ministry of Coal reviewed six years of commercial coal mine auctions, launched on 18 June 2020.
147 coal mines have been auctioned across nine states, with 44 new companies winning a block.
Auctioned blocks are projected to generate about Rs 47,500 crore in annual revenue, Rs 55,000 crore in capital investment and 4.9 lakh jobs.
Captive and commercial blocks together produced about 210 MT in FY 2025-26, crossing 200 million tonnes for the first time.
The regime traces to the Supreme Court's 2014 cancellation of 204 coal blocks and the rules-based allocation law that followed.
Nationalised coal mining and brought it under central control. A 1993 amendment first allowed private captive mining for power generation, coal washing and other notified end-uses, in addition to iron and steel.
Enacted to re-allocate the 204 blocks cancelled by the Supreme Court in 2014 through a transparent auction route. It amended both the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 and the MMDR Act, 1957.
Amended the CMSP Act and the MMDR Act to bring flexibility into allocation and ease of doing business, clearing the ground for the commercial auction regime launched in June 2020.
Removed the distinction between captive and merchant mines, allowing existing captive mines — coal included — to sell up to 50 per cent of production after meeting the requirements of their linked end-use plants.
Lets the State acquire unworked land containing or likely to contain coal deposits, in the economic interest of India; it is the land-acquisition route for coal projects.
India's dominant coal producer; its subsidiaries Western Coalfields Limited and Northern Coalfields Limited now bid in commercial auctions alongside private players.
Operates the e-commerce platform on which two-stage online coal block bidding is conducted.
Non-profit trust in every mining-affected district that receives a contribution from mine operators and spends it on local welfare through PMKKKY, launched in September 2015.
Funds mineral exploration; leaseholders contribute 2 per cent of their royalty payments to it.
GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy > Mineral Resources and Energy Security
General Awareness > Economy and Schemes
The competitively bid share of coal value that a commercial block operator pays the state, over and above statutory royalty; computed per tonne using the National Coal Index.
The older condition tying a block's coal to a specified use such as power or steel; commercial auctions carry no such restriction.
A monthly price index released by the Ministry of Coal with base year 2017-18, used to work out revenue share per tonne from auctioned blocks.