State-owned Coal India on Thursday said it expects to seal deals worth $1.7 billion (about Rs. 7,700 crore) with foreign firms this month for mining coal abroad.
“We are likely to finalise $1.7 billion foreign partnership pacts this month for mining about 280 million tonnes of coal over a period of 10 years,” Coal India Chairman Partha S. Bhattacharyya told reporters here on the sidelines of a conference on “Challenges in Coal Sector,” organised by Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE).
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“Due diligence is being done on five proposals from three global companies for partnerships in Australia, Indonesia and the U.S.,” Mr. Bhattacharyya said.
The company has already appointed three consultants — DSP Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Scotland — for fast-tracking the proposed ventures. The world’s largest coal producer, which meets nearly 82 per cent of the country’s requirement of the dry fuel, has already named U.S.—based Peabody as a possible ally for such ventures.
At present, the company is looking to forge equity and joint venture agreements with the concerned companies, but it may consider entering into off-take pacts later.
In the current fiscal, CIL has earmarked 60 per cent out of its total capital outlay of about Rs. 10,000 crore for such global deals.
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