Three ‘rich’ coal blocks to be re-allocated to NTPC
18 Jan 2013 7:16 AM IST
Finance Minister P Chidambaram will hold a crucial — and much publicised formal — meeting with Coal Minister Shriprakash Jaiswal and Minister of State for Power (Independent Charge) Jyotiraditya Scindia on 21 January, where they will discuss the issue of forming the much-needed coal sector regulatory body.
According to sources, this meeting is scheduled to be held at 3.30 pm.
However, about half an hour earlier (at around 3 pm) these three ministers will also meet for another very low-key but extremely important meeting. On the agenda of this first meeting will be the issue of re-allocation of three coal blocks — Chatti-Bariatu, Kerandari and Chatti-Bariatu (South) — to NTPC Ltd, the country’s national power utility company. These three blocks had been taken away from NTPC due to unexplained and unjustifiable delays by it in the implementation of mining.
The finance minister will advise (and presumably ‘convince’) the coal minister to direct Coal India Ltd (CIL), the country’s national mining company, to go soft on NTPC and agree on re-allocation of the prize Chatti-Bariatu, Kerandari and Chatti-Bariatu (South) blocks to the electrical utility giant. The aim of this move would be to increase power producer NTPC’s valuation ahead of its Rs 12,000 crore disinvestment process, which is scheduled to be held this fiscal (2012-13) itself. According to sources, this is a demand that has been raised by the merchant bankers to the NTPC stake sale. If these three ‘rich’ block are, indeed, re-allocated to NTPC, its valuation will significantly improve ahead of the much-touted disinvestment.
According to sources, this meeting is scheduled to be held at 3.30 pm.
However, about half an hour earlier (at around 3 pm) these three ministers will also meet for another very low-key but extremely important meeting. On the agenda of this first meeting will be the issue of re-allocation of three coal blocks — Chatti-Bariatu, Kerandari and Chatti-Bariatu (South) — to NTPC Ltd, the country’s national power utility company. These three blocks had been taken away from NTPC due to unexplained and unjustifiable delays by it in the implementation of mining.
The finance minister will advise (and presumably ‘convince’) the coal minister to direct Coal India Ltd (CIL), the country’s national mining company, to go soft on NTPC and agree on re-allocation of the prize Chatti-Bariatu, Kerandari and Chatti-Bariatu (South) blocks to the electrical utility giant. The aim of this move would be to increase power producer NTPC’s valuation ahead of its Rs 12,000 crore disinvestment process, which is scheduled to be held this fiscal (2012-13) itself. According to sources, this is a demand that has been raised by the merchant bankers to the NTPC stake sale. If these three ‘rich’ block are, indeed, re-allocated to NTPC, its valuation will significantly improve ahead of the much-touted disinvestment.
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